Source: China Business News
On May 26, 2020, " Gambling King " Stanley Ho died at the age of 98. As an iconic figure in Macau, the Stanley Ho family and their business are closely related to Macau and have a deep relationship. This wealthy man who is famous at home and abroad, and has an influence all over the world is not only famous for his wealth that can rival a country, but also attracts much attention for his controversial gambling industry and his group of wives and children.
In 2019, the magazine "Family Business" published three series of articles "Stanley Ho's Centenary Life and Family Legend" by Joint Convener of the Global China Research Project at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and co-director of the Center for Social and Political Development Research, and Gao Hao , director of the Global Family Business Research Center at the Wudaokou School of Finance at Tsinghua University. The full text is about 30,000 words, and the following is the original text.
Stanley Ho's centenary life and family legend (Part 1)
Revival under setbacks
The reputation, status, connections and moral capital of the family (especially the grandfather Ho Dong ) has provided support for the rapid rise of Stanley Ho, but the setback of his father's departure and the decline of his family may be an extremely important factor in inspiring Stanley Ho's progress from a certain perspective.
Text/Zheng Hongtai Gao Hao
2019 is the 20th anniversary of Macau's return to the motherland. More than a year later, November 2020 will be the 100th birthday of Stanley Ho, who is known as the "king of gambling". Stanley Ho can be said to be an iconic figure in Macau. Both family and business are closely related to Macau and have a deep relationship. This wealthy man who is famous at home and abroad, and has an influence all over the world is not only famous for his wealth that can rival a country, but also attracts much attention for his controversial gambling industry and his group of wives and children.
Although Stanley Ho’s legendary life and his family’s stories are often reported, and there are many academic and semi-academic research and analysis, it is always difficult to satisfy. It is either too superficial, lacks analysis, or problems such as incomplete information and biased opinions.
In fact, Stanley Ho should be the third generation after the family became prosperous. Stanley Ho was born in a wealthy family in Hong Kong. His father, Ho Shiguang, was eager to get rid of his father's stigma and be more successful than the previous generation, but ended up falling into the trap of others. Not only did he fall into the danger of "losing his fortune", he also had to avoid leaving home, which also affected Stanley Ho's life path. Fortunately, Stanley Ho made great efforts to turn the tide in the future and make the family comeback. The key to Stanley Ho’s revitalization of the family is that in addition to his personal courage and talent, the family’s connections cannot be ignored. Among the examples where many wealthy families unfortunately fell when they were rich to the second and third generations, but then they were able to revive and even create a prosperous scene, Stanley Ho's story undoubtedly attracted the most attention and is of great reference value.
In this article, we outline the development history of Stanley Ho’s family and business from the perspective of the interweaving of family comprehensive development and internal and external relations, first, we outline the development history of Stanley Ho’s family and business, especially the key to getting rich; second, we sort out the interaction between family internal and external relations at different levels, explain the importance of online capital, and find the reasons for the legend of Stanley Ho.
The rise of comprador families
On the appearance alone, it is not difficult to see that Stanley Ho is a mixed-race European and Asian child, which is the result of frequent exchanges between China and the United States after the opening of Hong Kong. Although the British colonial rulers at that time adopted a racist policy, regarded themselves as the best race and established barriers between China and the United States, they could not isolate contact and interaction between men and women.
After the birth of Eurasian mixed-race children, due to being excluded by Chinese and Western society, growth and education naturally emphasize reality and survival. They do not expect to be able to get fame after studying hard, but instead enter schools that emphasize practicality and Western teaching to receive education, which allows them to master the basic knowledge of Chinese and Western languages and modern society, and become intermediaries that communicate with China and abroad in the future - compradors. In the special environment in Hong Kong, these Eurasian mixed-race families are the first to rise and get rich quickly. Stanley Ho's grandfather, Ho Fu, and his grand uncle Ho Dong, and his grand uncle Ho Gantang and others, are the most representative figures who have risen rapidly in that environment and are the first generation compradors of the Eurasian mixed-race group.
Stanley Ho's great-grandfather was European, named Ho Shiwen (C.H.M. Bosman). Shortly after he opened his port in Hong Kong, he traveled across the ocean to the East to do business. He gave birth to mixed-race children such as Ho Dong and Ho Fu, who were described as the "rootless generation" with the Chinese woman Shi (Smith, 1983). However, because he had no marriage, he left his children alone to take care of them. Mother and son depend on each other for life. The behavior, language and thoughts of a group of mixed-race children are no different from those of ordinary Chinese. When they grow up, they were sent by their mother to study at the newly established Western-style school (Huangren Academy) and by chance when they become adults, they embarked on the road of comprador (Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2007; Ho, 2010). It should be pointed out that in the early years, because mixed-race children were excluded and discriminated against by mainstream Chinese society, they could only form their own groups, and most of them could only intermarry within their own groups. In addition, most of them entered Huangren Academy, so they formed an entangled and overlapping network (Hall, 1992).
The so-called comprador refers to a person who is hired by a foreign company and is responsible for all matters to China, including managing Chinese employees, contacting and interacting with the Chinese government, and even collecting commercial intelligence, paying for goods and exchanges of silver dollars, etc. They have the characteristics of "both servant and master" in their roles. Their income is not just salary and commission, but also implicit income related to business transactions at different levels.
More specifically, since compradors are intermediaries of different races, groups and businesses, in that era of language barriers, capital is not smooth, and many obstacles, they can often obtain income directly and indirectly, and get rich quickly. Ho Dong, Ho Fu and others were able to join the comprador ranks shortly after the opening of the port in Hong Kong, and especially became the comprador of Jardine (Matheson and Co, which was later , Jardine and Co., which later reorganized its core business and operated under the name of Jardine and Foreign Company, which will be called the latter in the following text) - which made them quickly become rich in the 1880s.
After He Dong and He Fu became rich as compradors of Jardine Wong foreign companies, they arranged their sons, nephews, in-laws and other mixed-race children to serve as compradors in different positions or in different foreign companies. At the same time, they operate different businesses themselves, open up wealth, and form a comprador and business network that is closely linked, mutually relied on, and prospers with all prospers.
The core of this comprador family is of course the three grandfathers of Stanley Ho, grand uncle and grand uncle. They took turns to serve as the chief comprador of Jardine Wong in the form of "brothers withdrew from their brothers", and they firmly grasped the core business of the British-funded bank (Zheng and Wong, 2010); the periphery consists of other family members, in-laws and mixed-race children, etc., who are divided into different departments or serve as compradors of different foreign banks: Stanley Hong's grandfather Luo Changzhao and uncle Zhang Peijie are assistant compradors of Yardsaw Foreign Company, father He Shiguang and uncle He Shijie are compradors of New Sassoon Foreign Company, his brother He Hongbang is compradors of HSBC Bank, uncle He Shirong and He Shijian are compradors of HSBC Bank, and uncle He Shiyao and He Shihua are compradors of bank; as for in-laws, such as uncle Huang Jinfu as compradors of Hong Kong Kowloon Warehouse, cousin Xie Shiping as compradors of Atlantic Ocean (2.960, 0.09, 3.14%), and cousin Xie Jiabao as compradors of Japan Post and Ship Company. The entire family forms a circle with all-in-one business and network connections, which tightly controls the lifeline of Hong Kong's business and economy.
In fact, members of this family not only serve as compradors of many powerful foreign companies, but also established solely or in partnership to meet different business needs, engaged in trade, opium (although opium was a legal patent industry at that time, the society still regarded it as a side business), sugar, shipping, banking, property and real estate, etc., and the family's wealth continued to expand. My grandfather Ho Dong became the richest man in Hong Kong, and my grandfather and uncle were naturally rich, becoming a wealthy family in Hong Kong at that time (see "Family Business" magazine for details in February and March 2019 "The He Dong Family's China-Overall Integration and Harmony of the Government and Business" together.
What cannot be ignored is that Stanley Ho's grandfather Ho Fu was favored by the British Hong Kong authorities from 1913 to 1924 and was appointed as a member of the Default Bureau (similar to today's Legislative Council). This was the very few Chinese who could participate in politics at that time. He had a very prominent position and brought greater influence to the family. After Ho Fu, the son-in-law of his grandfather Ho Dong, Luo Wenjin, not only served as a member of the Legislative Council, but also as an Executive Council member, with greater political power, further indicating that the Ho family's wealth and power was great, which was really unparalleled in Hong Kong at that time.
The greed of fathers has entered a scam, and the family has fallen into
In 1926, grandfather He Fu died of illness at the age of 63. Stanley Ho was only 5 years old at the time and had not yet entered the school for formal education. After He Fu died, his property in his name was divided equally by his sons (see the tree map of Stanley Ho’s family), and Stanley Ho’s father, Ho Shiguang, naturally got a share. The He family has become rich in the 1880s, and by the time He Fu died in the 1820s, they have experienced nearly 40 years of wealth. Since He Fu gave birth to many children, the property of each house after the separation of the family was naturally "pained in comparison" and was much less. Despite this, he is still rich. First, he actually gets a lot of property, second, each has a business, and third, he also has comprador jobs. Unfortunately, this situation didn't last long, and He Shiguang was in a dilemma due to his temporary greed, which affected Stanley Ho's life.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s after He Fu's family split, affected by the harsh international economic environment, countless small and medium-sized enterprises in Hong Kong were in trouble in operation. Jardinet, a leading Hong Kong enterprise, could not survive alone, showing a strong external force on the outside and working on the inside, which affected the contradiction between the family and the foreign company. One of the statements is that the Jardines Foreign Company's major team saw that the company's business development was stagnant, while the He family, who served as comprador, made great profits from different businesses and investments, was very jealous and even raised suspicion, suspected that the He family deceived their superiors and concealed their subordinates and secretly "eat" the company's interests. It is said that it was due to the dissatisfaction and distrust of foreign companies' major groups with the Ho family that they led a "Yimah Stock Scam", which made Stanley Ho's father He Shiguang "lost all his money and his family decline overnight" in this scam called the "Celestial Fairy Bureau" ( Leng Xia , 1994). This phenomenon also occurred in other foreign companies at that time. For example, the senior team of Pacific Foreign Company suspected that its comprador, the Mo family, had eaten up the interests. The two sides had a dispute in the 1920s and 1930s, and finally asked the Mo family to "compensate" the foreign company's losses (Zhang Zhongli, Chen Zengnian, Yao Xinrong, 1991).
Comprehensive various information, this "scam" happened in 1932. At that time, Stanley Ho's father, Ho Shiguang and his uncles (Ho Shiyao and Ho Shiliang) were all compradors of Jardine Mahjong. One day, He Shiliang entered the office of a foreign company to discuss business, but the office was empty. He Shiliang "accidentally" saw a private letter from a senior member of Jardine Wong Foreign Company. The content was related to the inside story of Jardine Wong Foreign Company's stock. From the future development, what he saw should be that Jardine Wong Foreign Company decided to inject a large amount of capital into the company's stock. This means that the company's stock price will rise sharply (Leng Xia, 1994).
He Shiliang felt like he had a treasure and thought it was a great opportunity to make a fortune, so he discussed with his brothers who had a deep relationship, He Shirong, a comprador of HSBC Bank (adopted to He Dong since childhood), and He Shiguang and He Shiyao, who were also compradors of Jardine Wong, decided to buy Jardine Wong's stocks, even without borrowing debts, so as to wait for the stock price to rise and make huge profits (Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2009). However, when they spent all their money to absorb Jardine Wong foreign stocks, they found that the stock price not only did not rise as expected, but instead declined. Later, they found that the letter was a fake document carefully planned by Jardine Wong foreign stocks, deliberately letting He Shiliang see it, luring the He brothers to buy Jardine Wong foreign stocks and transfer the losses caused by the poor management of the foreign stocks. The sharp drop in Jardine Wong foreign stocks made the He brothers heavily in debt in this investment.
As a result, because he could not bear the debt, He Shiyao was ill and died with hatred; He Shiliang looked for a short-lived view and committed suicide by swallowing a gun in his family's mansion in Datan Water Pond (Hong Kong Telegraph, 1933).As for He Shiguang, although he sold his property, he was still insolvent and finally chose to go far away. It is said that he fled to Saigon, Vietnam with some of his children, leaving only his wife and young children such as Stanley Ho in Hong Kong (Leng Xia, 1994; Lin Zhongmei, 2001). Fortunately, He Shirong was because he was not Jardine Magazine comprador, and he was not a serious player in the role of the participation, and He Dong had acquiesced to take on the debt, so he avoided the disaster (Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2009).
Stanley Ho’s father and uncle fell into a dilemma due to a temporary greed, which led to the family’s decline and even lost their lives, which brought a huge impact to the family. However, Stanley Ho’s wife was dragged down by the incident and her life underwent a major change. How much impact did the incident have on them? There are many sayings, some say that their lives are falling to the bottom of the valley, and some say that although their living standards are far different from those in the past, they can still live a rich life. A more reasonable speculation should be that "there are three-point nails for the bad ship". After all, Stanley Ho's grandfather Ho Dong was still the richest man in Hong Kong at that time. No matter how lonely and cold he was, he would not have watched his blood brother's children stay in the streets. This further shows that there has not been much change in the basic life of Stanley Ho's family - at least there is no evidence to shake the fundamental life. Therefore, Stanley Ho was still able to study at Huang Ren Academy. After completing the middle school course, he was admitted to , Hong Kong University, and in 1939, he continued his studies.
No matter what the truth is, when his father He Shiguang left, Stanley Ho was only about 13 years old. Even though he was still worried about life and had no need for food and clothing, he just changed from a wealthy person to a middle-aged rich man. However, the Jardines incident always caused by He Shiguang, and some people in the family even died. In addition, the disgraceful act of "running away" due to debts affected their family, and they were inevitably rolled in front of others and even insulted in person.
Stanley Ho often talks about a story when his family was in a downturn: When he was a teenager, he had tooth decay and asked his relatives who were dentists to fill their teeth, but he was ridiculed. The relatives said, "I don't have money, let's go! What teeth should I repair? Just pull out all my teeth." (Leng Xia, 1994) These cold words must have caused great harm to Stanley Ho, who is in a sensitive adolescence stage, which will make him still be resentful until he is old.
Stanley Ho, who experienced a huge family change, did not recover. Instead, it aroused the spirit of fighting and unyielding. He was determined to study hard, and his son was his mother Zhang, and the Zhongxing family. He completed his secondary school courses with excellent grades and was admitted to the College of Science, the University of Hong Kong, which countless students dream of. I believe that his life plan at that time may be just aspiring to embark on a professional path and may not necessarily devote himself to the business world. But in 1941, he was still one year away from graduating from college, but was forced to drop out of school. This year, the Japanese army invaded Hong Kong, the Governor of Hong Kong, Yang Muqi surrendered, and the University of Hong Kong also stopped. Stanley Ho, who was still working hard to handle the exam, had to decide to leave Hong Kong and go to Macau. Perhaps he could not have guessed that at that moment, this decision completely changed the fate of his personal and even the entire family, and became a turning point for his Zhongxing family.
Turning to Macau for a breakthrough First one million
Macau, separated from Hong Kong, has a smaller territory and population than Hong Kong (Huang Qichen, 1999). Because Portugal is in a neutral position, it avoids the destruction of Japanese artillery fire, can maintain peace, and the economy can continue to develop. Macau has become a refuge for countless people, and Stanley Ho and his grand uncle Ho Dong are also among the many refugees.
According to Stanley Ho, when he went to Australia, he only brought 10 yuan ( Huang Zhen , 1981), which can be considered as having nothing and no developed capital. But he was only 20 years old at that time, young, strong and ambitious, and longed to achieve something and revitalize his father's room with his own strength. Perhaps it is this momentum that faces dilemma and is not afraid of losing, which has allowed him to create a new world.
At that time, people from all walks of life in Macau gathered. Although the war was everywhere, Macau's commercial trade was still active, and gambling and entertainment were also prosperous. Although the business environment during the war was harsh, those who knew how to be flexible and adaptable and dared to take risks would find space and opportunities to make breakthroughs. The same was true for Stanley Ho's start.
Under the beautiful words and guarantees of his grand uncle He Dong, he took advantage of the convenience of teaching English to gradually open up Macau's interpersonal network and was soon invited to join CIMB.
CIMB was the largest trading company in Macau at that time, mainly engaged in the trade of rice, grain, cotton yarn and tung oil. Stanley Ho said this: I became the secretary of the (CIMB) company because I am well-versed in chemistry, and they knew that I could trust - I am Sir Ho Dong's nephew. (Mai Jieling, 1999)
Stanley Ho made it very clear that the identity of He Dong’s nephew is an important part of the trust of shareholders of all parties, so he was recognized by all parties and held the power to operate the entire company. It can be seen that Ho Dong's reputation, relationships or recommendations are not comparable to Ho's help when he first started, so that he can climb to the upper class of society, meet prominent figures, and win their trust, thereby building his own social connections and online capital. These invisible intangible capital can be said to be priced at gold, and the power it can exert cannot be underestimated.
Of course, the ironwork depends on his own strength. If Stanley Ho has no talent, it will not only be impossible to gain the support of his grand uncle Ho Dong, but it will also be impossible to gain the appreciation of others. Stanley Ho himself not only showed the spirit of being a newborn calf, but also had the courage and fighting spirit to make a fortune in the great era, so he was able to quickly get on the throne. For talented and capable people, even if it is just a word of encouragement, a reminder and a support, it can benefit them endlessly.
Data shows that after serving as the secretary of Lianchang Company, Ho Hongshen, with his extraordinary courage, outstanding talents and leadership skills, led by example in that era of rumbling artillery fire and turbulent political situation. Even when life is hanging on the line, he can make accurate decisions, turn dangers into safety, and keep business successful, bringing extremely rich returns to the company. Not only has he won the praise of his boss and admired his peers, he has also established his personal status in the world, which has made many people admire him (Huang Zhen, 1981; Leng Xia, 1994).
While in Macau, Stanley Ho frequently interacted with the Portuguese authorities and Portuguese people due to his work relationship, so he decided to learn Portuguese and improve his personal abilities. Unexpectedly, this unexpectedly made my marriage. While attending a Portuguese school, he met Clementina Leitao, who lives near the school. She is a native Portuguese woman, 3 years younger than Stanley Ho, and is a Portuguese lawyer C.M. Dr. Leitao's pearl in his hand.
Stanley Ho fell in love with Clementina at first sight, carried out a passionate pursuit, and finally won the hearts of the beauty, and got together in 1943. Clementina later gave birth to a Chinese name called Li Wanhua . After marriage, she gave birth to a son ( Ho Youguang ) and three daughters ( Ho Chaoying , Ho Chaoxian , Ho Chaoxiong ) (See the tree picture of Stanley Ho’s family). By making connections with Clementina, Stanley Ho entered the upper-class Portuguese circle, greatly expanded his network, and registered as a resident of Macau.
According to traditional sayings, Li Wanhua is very "helping his husband's luck". Shortly after she passed by, Stanley Ho was promoted from Lianchang's secretary to partner, and from a "worker" to a boss. He no longer relies on just one salary, but can share the company's profits. By the end of 1944, according to Stanley Ho's own recollection, at the age of 23, he had already earned the "first million yuan" of his life (Huang Zhen, 1981). You know, the value of one million yuan at that time and one million yuan today is a huge difference, and it is really an astronomical wealth.
Capital expansion "somestor" first 10 million
On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, Macau lost its "special status", and its business environment changed suddenly. Despite this, Stanley Ho, who is no longer a wealthy man in Wu, takes advantage of the development opportunities in the new environment, especially the established connections and capital, to continue to expand, making his wealth and wealth continue to rise and his career rise.
Comprehensive various data shows that after the war, Stanley Ho, on the one hand, partnered with , He Shanheng, to form the "Damei Foreign Company", which is mainly engaged in the resale of post-war material business, including the import and export trade of starting velvet (textiles), fuel, hardware and chemical raw materials.At the same time, he also established a shipping company to purchase a modern ship with a passenger capacity of 300 people to operate passenger transport between Hong Kong and Macau.
Stanley Ho, who already has a huge wealth, will naturally not be limited to Macau. He has begun to focus on developing Hong Kong with greater potential and make more active investments. After the war, due to the influx of refugees and the gathering of capitalists in Hong Kong, the real estate market was particularly hot. Stanley Ho, who had a sharp business vision, naturally joined in and established the Leon Construction Company with his friends to build buildings and enter the real estate industry (He Wenxiang, 1992).
According to Stanley Ho himself, he would "flip his personal wealth several times" like Sun Wukong's "somestorm". Although only he can understand the knowledge and details of it, he also leaked some of the tricks in it when interviewed by a reporter. He said this:
Making full use of capital depends on the support of banks, and doing real estate cannot be done without banks. I am very credited when I was in real estate. I borrowed money from the bank as usual and never paid it back late. When the money is over, the money should be returned to others as soon as possible. Never delay it, so the bank trusts me. (He Wenxiang, 1992)
After establishing Lian Construction Company to enter the real estate industry, Ho Hongshen used the capital of bank credit to leverage the power to explore larger business channels and enter a market with greater profits. He attaches importance to personal credibility. His style of borrowing money is only able to repay early and not late. This will naturally help him build reputation and credibility and create good conditions in seeking more and better bank financial support, so he can achieve good results in real estate development.
It is precisely with this investment trick that "borrow money with money" and can quickly recover funds, Stanley Ho has been constantly developing, and his business scale is naturally getting bigger and bigger, and his personal wealth is constantly expanding. By around 1958, he was only 37 years old at that time, and according to himself, he "had already had a net worth of ten million" (He Wenxiang, 1992: 60).
It can be said that in the 1940s and 1950s after World War II, Hong Kong and Macao undoubtedly entered another extremely special period of development. In that background or atmosphere, the residents of Hong Kong and Macao were panicked and at a loss. In this regard, Stanley Ho seemed to be indifferent and had a very high risk, but it was the best indicator for business to have great profits. Therefore, he adopted a more aggressive strategy, using the funds borrowed from bank loans to support the development of real estate and construction business, allowing continuous breakthroughs in business between Hong Kong and Macao and became a hot and important figure in Hong Kong and Macao.
Ascending to the throne of the gambling king
What made Stanley Ho famous all over the world not only had his wealth and wealth continuously increased explosively, but also became the "gambling king". According to data, Macau had implemented a gambling and gambling policy as early as the second half of the 19th century. After the outbreak of the World War II Pacific (3.130, -0.03, -0.95%) war, Taixing Company, composed of Fu Laorong and Gao Kening, won the gambling franchise in Macau, opening a new page in Macau's gambling industry.
After the end of World War II, the gambling industry was still developing and stable. By the end of the 1950s, three important changes occurred: one was that the Macau gambling industry franchise held by Taixing Company had been nearly 25 years, and it had to be re-bidged when the franchise expired in December 1961; the second was that Fu Laorong, who had always been the head of the company, died in 1960, and Taixing Company lost the leader who ordered all parties; the third was that the Macau Governor was changed at that time, and when the then Governor Ma Ji was obviously dissatisfied with Taixing Company's performance, and during his tenure, he had been planning a new franchise license bidding, which made the Macau Gambling franchise real bidding (Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001).
At that time, , Ye Han , who was known as the "Gambling Saint", always wanted to bid for the Macau gambling franchise license, but he was unable to enter. Ye Han, born in Jiangmen, Xinhui, Guangdong in 1904, is said to have been good at gambling since childhood and is well-versed in gambling skills. He once worked in Fu Laorong's gambling company, but later the two turned against each other. Although Ye Han once searched for places to start gambling, he eventually focused on Macau, even if he wanted to "confront the head-on" with his old employer (Xiao Liang, Xin Lei, 2005).For the bidding and gambling franchise license, Ye Han lacks financial resources, secondly, Macau has weak interpersonal relationships, and thirdly, he has no Portuguese identity and does not meet the basic conditions for licensing. Therefore, Ye Han found out through Ye Deli's relationship, Stanley Ho - Ye Deli's wife is Stanley Ho's sister He Wanwan ("Memoirs of Ten Girls: Confrontation with the Devil", 2007). There are also information that Ye Deli and Ye Deli should have a kinship relationship. The two met in Vietnam in the 1940s and 1950s, and had contact and dated Stanley Ho's father He Shiguang - Ye Deli rented He Shiguang's local casino (Leng Xia, 1994; Huang Zhen, 1981). Of course, Stanley Ho was very interested in Ye Han's proposal, but felt that he was short of financial resources, so he came to Huangren Academy classmate Ho Ying-tung , and everyone participated in the bidding together to compete with the Taixing companies of Fu and Gao (Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001).
Because of the strong partnership and the bid price is slightly higher than that of Taixing Company, in the bidding for the gambling franchise license in October 1961, Ho Hongjie and Ye Han's "Australia Entertainment" bid 3.167 million yuan, narrowly defeating Taixing's bid of 3.15 million yuan (Leng Xia, 1994:91), successfully repelled Taixing Company, seized the franchise of Macau's gambling industry from Fu and Masters, and officially registered on May 26, 1962 (He Weijie, 2011), forming "Macao Tourism and Entertainment Co., Ltd." (referred to as "Australia Entertainment", STDM). Stanley Ho formally signed a gambling franchise contract with the new Macau Governor Luo Bixin on March 30, 1962 as a representative of the consortium. This not only opened a new page in Macau's gaming industry, but also marked a new milestone in Stanley Ho's life and career. "Australia Entertainment" is chaired by Ye Deli, Ye Han and Ho Ying-tung serve as executive directors, and Stanley Ho serves as managing directors as shareholder representatives and licensees. In addition, Ye Han also serves as general manager.
After obtaining the gambling franchise in 1962, Stanley Ho, Ye Han, Ho Ying-tung, Ye Deli and others have invested a lot in Macau to build facilities such as D, hotels and docks. Due to business needs, Stanley Ho naturally has to spend most of his time in Macau to manage his business. Although there were many difficulties and challenges at the beginning of the business development, such as poor smooth coordination of business operations and threats of social forces to their families, they were eventually resolved one by one (Huang Zhen, 1981; Leng Xia, 1994).
As we all know, most of the tourists and gamblers in Macau in their early years came from Hong Kong, and most of them entered Macau by water. Stanley Ho, who has started operating ferry services in Hong Kong and Macao since the war, naturally would not let go of this goose that could lay golden eggs. In 1964, it increased its investment significantly and introduced new hydrofoil boats to improve service quality and shorten the transportation time between the two places. The improvement in transportation between the two places will naturally attract more tourists to Macau, which will stimulate the gambling industry. It can be seen that Stanley Ho's large-scale investment from transportation importers has achieved multiple results in one shot.
However, Stanley Ho's journey to the gambling king is not smooth. After "Australia Entertainment" obtained the right to operate the gambling franchise, the leadership power actually fell into the hands of Ye Han, who was very familiar with gambling and had a very strong position in the gambling world, and Stanley Ho could only surrender. Because Ye Han is old and still has the style of an old-school gangster, both business promotion, management and service support are considered to be unable to keep up with the changes in the times and are even more incompatible with Stanley Ho's management style. In addition, both of them have a personality that is unwilling to be inferior to others, so the conflicts between the two sides are gradually accumulating (Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001), and finally a struggle pattern of "one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers".
At the beginning of the gambling business, Stanley Ho didn't know much about the industry and was at the second place, and he was willing to obey Ye Han's instructions in everything. But as time went by, when he quickly grasped the various tips and details of the gambling industry, he naturally wanted to increase his dominance. Especially when he felt that Ye Han's management method was out of place, conflicts and disputes suddenly arose. At the beginning, everyone still felt that this was just a small problem that could be adjusted, but over time, the differences not only did not decrease, but instead expanded, so there was a competition between light and dark.
Because Stanley Ho is developing his Macau business while also taking into account Hong Kong investment, Hong Kong and Macao ferry services have developed rapidly due to the gambling business, so the profits are very generous; and obtaining the land of Hong Kong and Macao terminals from the Hong Kong and British governments is a milestone in development and strengthening the company's strength. In the early 1970s, facing the major opportunity of the sudden opening of the Hong Kong stock market, Ho Hong-Hong-Hong-Tong discussed with important shareholders Ho Ying-Tong and others, he decided to reorganize the company into a Xinde Enterprise, go public in 1972 to raise funds, absorb public capital to promote business, and allow the company to develop more (Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2006).
With a richer wealth, Stanley Ho naturally cannot tolerate living under Ye Han. When it comes to kung fu at the gambling table, Ye Han is indeed better than Stanley Ho, but when it comes to personnel and power struggles, Stanley Ho is even better than that. Not to mention the main partners - Ye Deli (Stanley Ho's brother-in-law) and Ho Ying-tung (Old classmate of Stanley Ho's School of Emperor Ho's College) - were found by Stanley Ho, and his relationship with the Macau Portuguese authorities and native Portuguese is his strength. The two's battle for "Australia Entertainment" entered a fierce stage in 1974.
Stanley Ho's mother Xian Xingyun died in 1951 at the age of 62 (Hall, 1992). In 1975, Stanley Ho's father, Ho Shiguang, died at the age of 87. He Shiguang returned to Hong Kong in the 1950s, but has always been extremely low-key. Stanley Ho first handled his father's funeral and buried his father in the family's Zhaoyuan Cemetery. After he had the same coffin as his mother who had been dead for many years, he focused on a comprehensive attack and fought for the control of "Australia Entertainment".
In 1975, Ye Han realized that the controlling and management backbones had all been attributed to Stanley Ho, and his advantage was no longer available, so he followed suit and decently "abdicated and gave way to the virtuous" on the grounds that he was over 70 years old and should retreat to the second line, and handed over the leadership of "Australia Entertainment" to Stanley Ho, who was the main force to manage the New Portuguese JING (Grand Lisboa). Only then did Stanley Ho truly ascend to the throne of the gambling king. Ye Han completely withdrew from the Australian Entertainment in 1982 and transferred the 10% stake he held to Cheng Yutong for 300 million yuan.
Led by Stanley Ho, a new development pattern emerged in "Australia Entertainment" (Huang Jun, 1981; Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001). However, the open and secret struggle between Ye He and the other two has not yet ended completely, such as Ye Han once colluded with other businessmen to participate in the bidding for Macau gambling franchise licenses, founding horse racing carriage meetings and high sea gambling wheels (erhu, 1980; Wei Ling, 1980). It was not until May 7, 1997 that when the 92-year-old Ye Han passed away, and Stanley Ho went to pay his respects in person, that the grudge between the two new and old gambling kings finally came to an end.
From the decline of his father's "run away" in Vietnam in 1934, to the end of 1941, Stanley Ho switched to Macau to start his career, earning his first pot of gold, developing businesses including trade, transportation, real estate and construction, which made his personal wealth soar. Later, he was involved in gambling business and successfully obtained a gambling franchise. Since then, he has made a fortune. He ascended the throne of the gambling king in 1975, marking the peak of Stanley Ho's life career (Huang Jun, 1981; Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001)—The path that Stanley Ho has taken in these 40 years is undoubtedly extremely tortuous and legendary, and has extraordinary achievements. Although as mentioned above, the reputation, status, connections and moral capital of the family (especially his grandfather Ho Dong) once supported Stanley Ho's rapid rise, the father's departure and the setbacks of family decline may be an extremely important factor in inspiring Stanley Ho's progress from a certain perspective. Therefore, some analysts pointed out that Stanley Ho’s father’s misfortune may be a true reflection of the loss of his horse and the misfortune.
From this perspective, when the family is in adversity and difficulties, if it can turn sadness and hardship into strength, inspire children's fighting spirit, and make positive and positive efforts, it is difficult to ensure that it will not turn weak into strong. Stanley Ho brings rejuvenation to the family and exhale, which is a good explanation.
Stanley Ho's centenary life and family legend (Chinese)
One wife and three concubines 6 sons 11 The inheritance of women
In the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong, Macao and Stanley Ho's family both experienced tremendous development and changes. During this period, crises, challenges and opportunities were reproductive and overlapping. Being able to handle them is often the key to victory or defeat.
Text / Zheng Hongtai Gao Hao
The inheritance of Chinese family enterprises has attracted much attention for a long time. Stanley Ho, who has gone from poverty to wealth and has a great family and a great career, is naturally no exception. According to data, as early as the late 1970s, when reform and opening up had just begun and Stanley Ho was about to enter the age of 70s, Stanley Ho began to be asked by reporters about how to arrange the inheritance and succession. He responded at that time, hoping to retire after 55 years of age (South China Morning Post, February 13, 1989).
As for the question about how to arrange succession, his answer is like many wealthy parents, especially showing an open-minded and selfless side. He once said this:
I am Chinese, and I have the idea of continuing the family line! However, doing business may not be necessary. I absolutely do not believe that the way of passing on fathers and sons is no longer in line with the trend. There are already two business of father-born sons in Hong Kong that has been done (finished)! Although I value my son, when I divide the property, my son will be divided into two parts and my daughter will also have one. Not considered biased! (He Wenxiang, 1992)
Ho Hongshen bought the bronze statue of the Marian horse head in the Old Summer Palace in 2007 and donated it to the country.
Stanley Ho also said in an interview on other occasions that "he does not believe in passing on the career from generation to generation." Instead, he believed that "more than 4,000 people are working for us and relying on us, and we have the responsibility to choose the most talented person to manage the career" (Le Wenshuo, 1978). This response has been deeply appreciated by many people, and they believe that only by doing so can we better promote the development of family businesses and become a force for social progress.
The following are examples of related comments:
Now (around 1978, when Stanley Ho was about 57 years old) he already thought about retirement. Maybe he would retire four years later (that is, after the age of 60), but retirement is not easy. He would feel uncomfortable if he didn't work for a few days. He loves work, and this cannot be denied, but retirement is inevitable. He actually had Chinese blood in his body, and his westernized mind always retained a little traditional thought (for example, he opposed women's intervention in men's business, original note). Then, the previous paragraph about career inheritance is a bit confusing. We often see news about "Ho Ying-Tong and his son" in newspapers, but it is rare to mention Stanley Ho and his son. Ho is not without children. If he can really get rid of the tradition of a big businessman in Hong Kong (for whatever reason, the original note) and hand over his career to the most talented person, it would be considered unique. (Le Wen gave away, 1978)
However, in hindsight, the observations and comments in the market at that time were obviously too early. They may not have a deep understanding of the age and internal relationships of Stanley Ho's children, but just because they did not see their children joining the company to participate in management, and he himself said "I do not believe in the way father and son passed on", and he wishfully thought that he really would not pass on father and son. In fact, if we turn our attention to things outside the spotlight, especially the relationship between family and relatives, it is not difficult to understand that Stanley Ho's actual actions and what he said publicly at that time were actually not consistent.
Imported child imports, family relationships are becoming more and more complex
The reality is that no inheritance arrangement can be viewed from the surface, let alone from the teaching side. Because inheritance is a multi-party interactive process that will affect the relationships and emotions of different members of the entire family. As for Stanley Ho, whose career and wealth are rising, he is obviously facing the growing family and the increasingly entangled and complex family relationships.
Stanley Ho and his wife, Lai Wanhua, have one son and three daughters, and they are also considered to be a child in modern society. But for Stanley Ho, who was born in a large family since childhood and had a very traditional value concept, it is obviously not enough to have only one offspring. Especially the gambling industry he is engaged in has always been notorious and is often accused of being addicted to people, causing serious problems to society and family, and even causing resentment from many people. Not to mention that the operation method of large amounts of cash flow often leads to the covetousness of black and white. The world is dangerous. If you are not careful, you may fall into danger. Stanley Ho naturally hopes to have more sons to avoid breaking his heirs.
Han Ho and Lai Wanhua
According to Stanley Ho in an interview with Wong, ten years after she married Stanley Ho (i.e. around 1953), she "suddenly contracted a strange disease". Even if she hired famous Chinese and foreign doctors to treat her, she could not cure her. Her body became thinner and thinner and "needed special care" (Wang Wang, 1981). The strange disease that Li Wanhua suffered not only made her disappear and could not accompany Stanley Ho to attend social occasions, but also affected their marriage life, and of course it also included the issue of inheriting the family line. Li Wanhua's fate has also become bumpy since then.
In 1957, Stanley Ho made a request to take a concubine to Li Wanhua. Because Hong Kong and Macao were still using the "Qing Laws" at that time, men with ability could take concubines, and Stanley Ho's grandfather, grand uncle, and other grand uncle were also monogamous and multiple concubines. He said this:
I don’t love him, I still love him very much, but even if I love him, I can’t be a monk for the rest of my life. And sometimes there are so many social engagements, including men and women, so I am alone all day long, which is not good.
Li Wanhua certainly expressed opposition, but she was sick and her husband became stronger and stronger. In the end, she could only accept it with all kinds of sweet words and promises. The woman she liked by Stanley Ho was Lan Qiongying (He Wenxiang, 1992; Leng Xia, 1994).
Stanley Ho and his second wife Lan Qiongying
It is said that Lan Qiongying was born in 1943 (22 years apart from Stanley Ho), and was only about 14 years old when she was taken as her concubine by Stanley Ho in 1957. Regarding Lan Qiongying's age, appearance and personality, Stanley Ho himself said in a timely manner: "She married me very early... She is beautiful and treats me very well!" (Huang Zhen, 1981). After passing by, Lan Qiongying lives in the Jardine Hill Mansion in Hong Kong and is separated from Lai Wanhua. In 1962, Lai Wanhua gave birth to another daughter for Stanley Ho, and He Chaoxiong. In the same year, Lan Qiongying also gave birth to a daughter for , He Chaoqiong, . After that, Li Wanhua did not have children again, and Lan Qiongying gave birth to He Chaofeng , He Chaoliu , He Chaoyi and He Yaolong ("Daily Headlines", December 31, 2017), and had a total of one son and four daughters. With more population and complicated family relationships, only one male student, He Youlong, was born in 1976. This obviously failed to satisfy Stanley Ho's desire to have more sons - even though he praised Lai Wanhua and Lan Qiongying and always "love" (Huang Zhen, 1981).
Ho Hongshen, his second wife, Lan Qiongying, and the third daughter, He Chaoqiong (right), He Chaofeng (middle in the back row), and He Chaonu (left in the back row).
In the 1980s, the investment environment in Hong Kong changed, and many professionals or companies moved out one after another. In addition to transferring some of his business investment to Europe and the United States (Ko, 1988; South China Morning Post, 1989), allowing his family to obtain foreign residence is also an important preparation. Stanley Ho naturally transferred part of his investment to Portugal. In addition to purchasing a mansion in Lisbon, he also transferred a lot of funds to the country. He also sent his eldest son, He Youguang, who was the department manager of Xinde Enterprise at that time and began to take over the business, to the local area to further develop the business. In 1981, He Youguang and his wife died in an accident while traveling in Lisbon. The couple were both 33 years old at the time, leaving behind a young daughter who was only 3 and 5 years old (South China Morning Post, 1981). This accident not only brought a blow to Stanley Ho, but also affected his inheritance and succession plan, but also caused great harm to Lai Wanhua, who has always been weak and sick. Li Wanhua, who has been in a depressed mood since Stanley Ho took a concubine, originally hoped that her son would be able to "son for his mother" in the future. He Youguang's sudden death undoubtedly shattered her hopes and was very sad.
He Youguang and his wife
As well-behaved, He Chaoying, the sister who has a deep relationship with He Youguang, should also be He Chaoying. Born in 1946, He Chaoying, two years older than He Youguang, studied in the UK and Switzerland when he was young. After returning to Hong Kong, he married Xiao Ming, the son of Hong Kong's "King of the King of the Little Arts", in 1975. This marriage was regarded as a "strong union" and was invincible.Unfortunately, the marriage lasted for a short time and she divorced due to an extramarital affair in her husband (Walker, 1986). Her younger brother died in a car accident at this time. Under the double blow, He Chaoying was extremely depressed, and even said that she was mentally ill. Later, she left Hong Kong with her daughter (Xiao Wenzheng), who was less than 3 years old, and began a travel-style life in various parts of Europe such as Portugal, which lasted for more than ten years. In the minds of many people, this kind of life may be very romantic, but it can also be said to be wandering around and living without a fixed place ("Daily Headlines", October 13, 2017). While experiencing the pain of losing her son, Li Wanhua also witnessed her eldest daughter getting divorced, her emotions lost, and her life fell into a trough, so her health was getting worse day by day.
On the other hand, Lan Qiongying's life has also undergone major changes. Under the instruction or arrangement of Stanley Ho, Lan Qiongying immigrated to Canada in the mid-1980s with her children, and bought a luxury house as a residence on Highpoint Road in Toronto. Her young children went to school in Canada (Wong, 1990).
Because of immigration, Stanley Ho and Lan Qiongying mostly have to separate from each other, which laid the groundwork for another major change in family relations. Or it can be said that when Lan Qiongying immigrated to Canada, Stanley Ho was nearly 65 years old. Whether it was Lai Wanhua or Lan Qiongying, they could not have thought that Stanley Ho would still have the idea of finding a concubine and a female companion again. However, Stanley Ho remained romantic and unchanged in personality. Not only did he make a third spring, but he also had a fourth spring, which was beyond their expectations.
Stanley Ho, his third wife, Chen Wanzhen, and a son (He Youqi) and two daughters (He Chaoyun and He Chaolian).
It turned out that Stanley Ho fell in love with Chen Wanzhen, the private caretaker around Li Wanhua. At that time, Chen Wanzhen, born in 1954, was over 30 years old. At the beginning, the relationship between Stanley Ho and Chen Wanzhen was not exposed, but it was in the end. Stanley Ho disclosed his relationship in the late 1980s and confirmed the position of Chen Wanzhen's third concubine. Chen Wanzhen gave birth to a son for Stanley Ho (Ho Youqi) and two daughters (Ho Chaoyun and He Chaolian), which further prospered the family. However, the number of sons who were thinking about here was only increased from one to two.
Even though he is nearly 70 years old, Stanley Ho is still energetic, and of course he is full of male charm, wealthy financial resources and "power" in society. In the late 1980s, he started another relationship with Liang Anqi , born in 1961, and publicly announced his fourth concubine in 1989. Angela Leong later gave birth to three sons for Stanley Ho ( Ho Youheng , Ho Youjun , and Ho Youjia) and two daughters ( Ho Chaoying , and Ho Chaoxin ). This time, he has fulfilled his wish to have more sons.
Stanley Ho, the fourth wife, Angela Leong and her children,
If the eldest daughter born in 1946 and the young daughter born in 2000, their age difference is 54 years, which is undoubtedly an extremely rare phenomenon in the millennial century. In such a big family with a monogamous wife, three concubines, six sons and 11 daughters, and a huge age difference, family relationships and entanglements will inevitably become more complicated and difficult to resolve ("Daily Headlines", December 31, 2017; September 20, 2018).
It can be clearly seen that when ordinary people expect Stanley Ho to retire and enter the important stage of inheritance and succession, his eldest son suddenly died unfortunately, and his marriage and family structure changed dramatically. He successively accepted three concubines and gave birth to more than 10 children. The sons are young, the daughters are older, and the concubines are younger, and some are very interested in running a business. Various factors directly or indirectly affect the arrangement of inheriting and taking over the class, which makes Stanley Ho need to spend more effort. The subsequent return of Hong Kong and Macau, China's rise, and globalization trends also influenced his overall plan on business development and inheritance.
The family business map continues to expand, and Josie Ho has taken the pace of succession
When Hong Kong and Macau enter the transition period of return, the structure and relationship of the Stanley Ho family have undergone major changes, and the various businesses controlled by the family have also developed significantly, and even continued to expand.Even though Stanley Ho was still healthy at this time, and his personal status and social reputation were particularly prominent, his social engagements and business were heavy and he had no time to be a clone, which prompted him to earnestly implement the inheritance and succession plan. At that time, the eldest daughter He Chaoying, born to Lai Wanhua, had serious mental problems due to the breakdown of her marriage and moved overseas. He Chaoxiong and He Chaoxian were not interested in joining the family business. In addition, Lai Wanhua was not healthy and could not fight for her daughters or make any long-term arrangements, so she did not see her daughter born to Lai Wanhua participate in the family business. At this time, Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi's children were still young, and Stanley Ho chose the daughter Ho Chiu-qiong, born to Lan Qiongying, as the successor, and began to make substantial preparations for the handover between corporate leaders and management.
Let’s talk about the major developments in corporate business first. Despite the large number of right and wrong, the business income of Macau's gambling industry is stable and profitable. In the 1980s, "Macau Entertainment" was still holding on to the franchise, and no one could challenge it. Stanley Ho still wore the crown of "King of Gambling" on his head. Because the business is a franchise and does not have enough challengers, there are not many innovations or developments in business, and to some extent, even a situation of self-satisfaction has occurred. It was not until Macau’s return and the gambling industry opened up that there was a major change in transformation (Zheng and Wan, 2014).
The other flagship of the family’s business is Xinde Enterprise. Since its listing in 1972, the company has performed outstandingly in other times except for the severe economic recession period in Hong Kong from 1973 to 1975. In the late 1970s, the company acquired the land for the Hong Kong and Macao terminal and spent huge amounts of money to build the company's signature commercial building - Xinde Center . After continuous construction, by 1986, the Sindhi Center, which is more than 40 floors high, was finally completed and put into use, becoming a dazzling landmark building on Hong Kong Island. Since the center is located at the Hong Kong-Macao Wharf and MTR Station, and is at the tunnel exit, and the transportation is well connected, the price has risen sharply after the center is completed, bringing considerable income to the company. Xinde Enterprise also became the best-performing listed company in 1987 (Winn, 1987), pushing the company's development to another important level.
Sinde Enterprise also became the best-performing listed company in 1987 (Winn, 1987), pushing the company's development to another important level. (Sinde Center under the setting sun.)
While Situation Enterprises are rising steadily, the Macau Electric Power Company, which Stanley Ho had already been involved in in his early years, also had important changes in the 1980s. Founded in 1910, Macao Electric Lighting Co. Ltd., Melco, is the main business of providing electricity to Macau, but its headquarters is located in Hong Kong. The main investors also come from families with investment and business in Hong Kong and Macau. The company's shares were traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as early as the 1920s. By 1972, the company was reorganized and some of its power businesses were transferred back to Macau. Other businesses such as catering, tourism and real estate continued to stay in Hong Kong and maintained their identity as a listed company. Stanley Ho also became a major shareholder. By the 1980s, the company was renamed "Melco International Development" and cooperated with Sindhi Enterprises to jointly develop real estate in Mid-mountain Hong Kong Island and build luxury houses. With the continued rise in the real estate market, its performance was very good (South China Morning Post, September 26, 1989).
Also in the 1980s, Stanley Ho, who seemed to be getting older and more aggressive, was involved in industrial production and participated in Semi-Tech Microelectronics, founded in Canada by Ding Wei, a company that was originally engaged in semiconductor and chip manufacturing. The company was reorganized into Semi-Tech Global in 1986 and was listed in Canada. The following year, the company was listed in Hong Kong, China, and Stanley Ho acquired a stake and became the chairman of the company. Later, Shanmei Global acquired Singer Sewing Machine Co, a famous American sewing machine brand, which caused a sensation in the financial circles of China and abroad (Apple Daily, November 25, 2012).
It was like this that the overloaded workload of Stanley Ho began to arrange for his daughter Ho to take over.Born in 1962, He Chaoqiong, who graduated from Santa Clara University in the United States, first worked in an investment bank, and then joined Shanmei Electronics as a director. He was also responsible for managing all the company business of his mother Lan Qiongying and accumulating work experience. Around 1987, He Chaoqiong was arranged by his father to work in Xinde Enterprise and reached a new level of inheritance and succession (South China Morning Post, February 5, 1989).
According to Ho Chaoqiong's personal self-modest statement, as the "daughter of billionaire", even though she has not made any achievements in her job, she has attracted much attention from the media, which makes her flattered (South China Morning Post, February 5, 1989). However, Josie Ho should also be happy to become the darling of the media. She is keen on participating in fundraising events, dance parties or movie premieres and other social events. She is also happy to respond when media and reporters visit, which shows that she is also interested in establishing her public image (South China Morning Post, September 22, 1989).
He Chaoqiong and famous singer Danny Chan attended the event.
In the 1990s, Hong Kong and Macao entered a post-transition period. Due to poor social security in Macau, the tourism and gambling industry has greatly affected the economy and the economy is sluggish. The "Australia Entertainment" business, which still holds gambling franchise, is not very good, and its revenue is reduced (Zheng and Wan, 2014). Relatively speaking, Hong Kong's society is stable and its economy is quite hot. Xinde Enterprises and many Chinese-funded enterprises adhere to the consistent purpose of "staying in Hong Kong and building the port" and have entered the post-transition period. Due to poor social security in Macau, it has greatly affected tourism investment and promoted Hong Kong's economic development. The most attractive move to market is to spend huge amounts of land in Ship Tong Tsui, Pok Fu Lin Road, Mid-Level, , Central and Western District, Hong Kong Island, and to build the famous real estate in Hong Kong Island, Bao Cuiyuan, with Sun Hung Kai Properties and New World (11.950, 0.02, 0.17%), etc. The project will become a landmark private housing estate in the district, bringing huge profits to the company.
Melco International Development also had many major developments in the 1990s, the most prominent of which was that in 1993, Xinde Enterprises adopted it as a subsidiary through further capital injection (South China Morning Post, September 22, 1993), allowing the two companies to play a better synergy effect. With such a strong capital backend, Melco International Development acquired Aberdeen Catering Enterprises Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries, and obtained the rights to operate two important restaurants in Aberdeen - Zhenbao Seafood Boat and Taibai Seafood Boat. By 1996, Melco International Development carried out business and investment restructuring, and finally adopted the method of exchange for controlling rights, and reached an agreement with Xinde Enterprise that the holdings were not affiliated with each other (South China Morning Post, February 10, 1996). From then on, Melco International Development was no longer a subsidiary of Xinde Enterprise, but embarked on the road of independent operation, but the major shareholder was still the Stanley Ho family.
When Xinde and Melco investing frequently, Stanley Ho served as chairman, but the management power was in the hands of Ding Wei, Shanmei Global, which was in the hands of Ding Wei, was fighting and constantly expanding its business territory. In 1991, Shanmei Global split its Shengjia sewing machine manufacturing business and listed it on the New York Stock Exchange, greatly increasing the company's asset value. At the same time, Shanmei Global also used its mutual holdings with Shengjia sewing machine to acquire German Pfaff Industries and Japanese Sansui Electric, which caused a sensation in the international investment market. Stanley Ho and his partner Ding Wei also entered the top ten in the Hong Kong rich rankings. In 1999, Shanmei Global was renamed Akai Holdings Ltd, but at that time the company was in danger due to its rapid expansion, excessive borrowing, and the sudden outbreak of the "Asian financial crisis" (Apple Daily, November 25, 2012).
Xu Jinheng and He Chaoqiong at the wedding
In fact, for He Chaoqiong, the 1990s was also an important stage of her life after taking the pace of succession and learning in different business development and management. In mid-1990, Ho Chaoqiong announced his engagement with Xu Jinheng, the grandson of the "patriotic ship king" Xu Aizhou (South China Morning Post, June 3, 1990), and got married and held a drink in January 1991.The wedding banquet was held at the Hyatt Hotel for three consecutive days. Celebrities from Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and relatives and friends from abroad came to congratulate each other. The number reached more than 2,000, which was extremely luxurious (Sing Tao Daily, January 9, 1991). After marriage, Ho Chaoqiong did not stay at home or had children soon. Instead, after a short period of suspension of work, he re-entered his career in 1994 (South China Morning Post, September 4, 1994), and continued to follow the path of taking over the heavy burden of his father's business. Of course, he also performed many outstandingly during this period.
There is no doubt that Hong Kong, Macao and Stanley Ho's family both experienced tremendous development and changes in the 1980s and 1990s. During this period, crises, challenges and opportunities were reproductive and overlapping. Being able to handle them is often the key to victory or defeat. Similar to the transition period for Hong Kong and Macao entering the return, the companies controlled by the Stanley Ho family have also entered the handover period for leadership. At that time, Stanley Ho had already "crossed six and seven" (that is, he was over 60 and entered 70 years old). Generally speaking, it was time to inherit the class. However, whether it is health, business, marriage or family life, Stanley Ho is getting more and more exciting. Not only does his personal wealth continue to rise, but his family size continues to grow. Although the successor He Chaoqiong, whom he personally arranged, has taken the step of taking over, the power is still in the hands of Stanley Ho.
A young son is an adult New deployment in his 80s
After the end of World War II, human society not only showed relatively lasting peace, but also caused a sharp increase in the rate of infant death, especially the improvement of medical and health care levels, which saw a sharp decline in infant death rate and a significant increase in the average life expectancy. The wealthy family can enjoy a longer life than ordinary people because they can enjoy a better material life, better health care and medical conditions. For the companies they control, under their long-term leadership, many of them can achieve better development due to their accumulation of experience, connections and social capital support, creating family legends.
The longevity of the rich does bring benefits to inheriting and succession. If you have more time to train successors and encounter sudden changes, you can also come forward to stabilize the overall situation. However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Entrepreneurs will also bring many challenges and problems to the company for a long time, as is the case with Stanley Ho. For example, the sudden death of He Youguang, the successor he chose, changed the original inheritance arrangement. Fortunately, he was still healthy at that time and could stabilize the overall situation before preparing for it. But when he was old, he was still energetic and was unwilling to be lonely to take his concubine again. As a result, not only were the concubines far apart from his age, but the children born were also very far apart from their brothers and sisters in terms of age, and were half-brothers. Naturally, it greatly changed the family structure and relationship, making inheritance issues more entangled and complicated, and prone to breeding various interlocking contradictions, planting more seeds of instability and even disputes.
After entering the new millennium century, on the one hand, there were major changes in the economic environment of Hong Kong and Macao, and on the other hand, there were changes in family relations. What Stanley Ho faced was a situation where crises, challenges and opportunities accompanied by opportunities, which made him unable to stop. At the end of the 20th century, Hong Kong and Macao returned to the embrace of their motherland one after another. At the same time, the Asian financial crisis hit the business and economy of Hong Kong and Macao. Therefore, Stanley Ho, who has business investments throughout Hong Kong and Macao, needs to make various responses and plans. On the other hand, some young children have grown up, prompting him to seriously think about the issue of inheritance and succession.
Inheritance and formation
In early 2000, Ho Chaoqiong and Xu Jinheng, who were generally regarded as the main heir, fell into the trap. Although the two ended up divorced, goodbye was also a friend. The friendly relationship between the Xu and He families remained unchanged ("Memoirs of Ten Girls: Confrontation with the Devil", 2007). Since then, Ho Chaoqiong once fell in love with the son of Yang Shoucheng, chairman of Hong Kong Emperor Group, and even talked about marriage for a while, but because of Stanley Ho's opposition and various other factors, he ended up in vain. Since then, Ho Chaoqiong has been devoted to his career and focused on managing his family's enterprises (South China Morning Post, December 8, 2000; Sing Tao Daily, December 14, 2000).
At the same time, Lan Qiongying's youngest son, Youlong, graduated from the University of Toronto Business School in Canada. He worked in an investment banking period like his sister, Josie Ho, to learn about the operation of international financial capital.Later, he was involved in the precarious Internet business, but the Internet bubble burst soon after. Although He Youlong suffered losses, he learned a lot of experience. At the end of 2000, the 24-year-old Ho Yaulong married Luo Xiuyin (daughter of Luo Youli), the granddaughter of Vita milk founder, Luo Guixiang, as his wife. This marriage was also a "strong union". At that time, Stanley Ho was nearly 80 years old and felt very "comfortable" (Sing Tao Daily, November 17, 2000).
He Youlong and his wife Luo Xiuyin
Another noticeable phenomenon in this wedding was that Xu Jinheng had come to help and came to congratulate with his parents, which shows that the relationship between the Xu He and the two families was not affected by the end of their marriage between Xu Jinheng and He Chaoqiong (Oriental Daily, November 17, 2000).
Hao Yeung has been internships in an outside company for a period of time—and he has also had working experience and entrepreneurial experience. In addition, he has already started a family business, so it is natural for Heo Yeung to prepare to enter a family business and start a successor. In 2001, Lawrence Ho was appointed as the managing director of Melco International Development by Stanley Ho. He started to manage a not-so-large company and learn how to plan the business.
Unlike many "rich second generations", Lawrence Ho is quite low-key and humble, attaches importance to hard work, and does not get involved in the play habits of many rich children. Instead, he spends a lot of time studying business and business, so he can make some achievements after taking over the development of Melco International, which makes Stanley Ho, who has seen countless people, appreciates it very much and is more willing to entrust more work. From then on, Stanley Ho's inheritance and succession arrangements began to have more practical and diverse arrangements: both the development of Ho Chaoqiong and the following up by Ho Yau Long.
Of course, other children and concubines often seek opportunities in front of Stanley Ho, and he will also be included in the scope of consideration. Chinese entrepreneurs always have this trait. Different families (including some credible people) will make different investment suggestions to them and strive for support. When they can do their best and feel that their families have certain business potential after evaluating, they generally do not flatly refuse, but are willing to give some investment or encouragement to let them try.
Deployment of the New Millennium Century
For Macau, the most important challenge and opportunity to enter the New Millennium Century is undoubtedly a huge change in the gambling industry franchise. After the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the country stationed troops in Macau, which was extremely deterrent to Macau, which was plagued by evil forces in the past. The public security problem is solved so that the SAR government can concentrate on developing the economy, and the major breakthrough point is to propose policies to introduce competition and open the gambling industry. On the surface, this major policy adjustment was extremely unfavorable to Stanley Ho's business, so he expressed his opposition, but the gambling industry was finally opened, and the gambling operating license increased from one to three. These three licenses are divided into chief and deputy license plates, and chief and deputy license plates have almost the same operating rights, which also means that the number of license plates has increased from one to six, and the opening range is really quite large.
Macau Gaming Entertainment Co., Ltd. (referred to as "SJM" and SJM) led by Stanley Ho - a subsidiary of "SJM" - obtained one of the authentic brands, while the other two authentic brands were controlled by the Lui Che-ho family, and the "Wynn Resorts Macao" of American tycoon Stephen Wynn (" Macau Daily ", February 9, 2002). Later, GEG applied to the government to release a deck to the Venetian Macao and obtained approval. This move made Stanley Ho, who was sharp-eyed, take action immediately and apply for two sub-card cards with Wynn Holiday Leisure, thus having "MGM Grand Paradise" (co-operated by MGM Group and "Macau Entertainment") and Melco PBL Jogos Macau (a subsidiary of Melco International Development). MGM Golden Palace is governed by Ho Chaoqiong, while Macau New York is managed by Lawrence Ho, who has just debuted (McCartney, 2006). In other words, the original three-legged squad became a situation where Stanley Ho “topped the sky” again, and Stanley Ho’s business tentacles and personal network are evident.To put it another way, if Stanley Ho was not in power, in that era of major changes and fierce competition, it would be difficult for him to not have been the same as in the 1960s. After Fu Laorong's death, his family would not have been able to obtain the gambling industry franchise again, and he would have withdrawn from the stage of Macau's gambling industry.
For this major change, many people predict that the gambling industry will inevitably decline under the influence of "more monks and less porridge". However, the actual development situation is really as some economic theories say. Under the stimulation of competition, competitors show their strengths to attract consumption, stimulate innovation and vitality, and make business more prosperous. Of course, mainland China has further relaxed the outbound travel of Chinese people, especially in 2003, the personal travel policy commonly known as "free travel" was introduced, which also injected extremely important development power into Macau's gaming industry. China and Macau's economy quickly emerged from the trough of recession before the return, and the wealth of the Stanley Ho family also soared further. Within a few years, Macau surpassed Las Vegas, the United States, which has always been the world's number one gambling industry. Macau's employment, people's livelihood, infrastructure, etc. have also achieved continuous improvements, and its per capita GDP has even surpassed Hong Kong (Zheng and Wan, 2014).
The fluctuations in Hong Kong's performance
Back to Hong Kong's business. Compared with Macau, after entering the millennium century, Hong Kong's economy has fallen sharply due to the impact of the "Asian financial crisis", and the business and investment of the Stanley Ho family have also been affected, including Yajia Holdings, which participated in and served as chairman - although the company is the CEO and major shareholder Ding Wei. According to data, Ding Wei's series of radical acquisitions and investments at the end of the 20th century, the asset value has skyrocketed, resulting in debt defaults due to the sharp rise in interest rates and credit tightening under the "Asian Financial Crisis" - the reversal of the market environment.
In hindsight, Ding Wei should have conducted a "false account transaction" in which the defendant later took to court in this environment, injecting liquidity into his company, but in the end the capital chain broke and a series of ships burned. As a result, the police investigated and exposed a series of "false account" incidents. Ding Wei was finally convicted of forging accounts and was imprisoned for six years. Although Stanley Ho was not directly involved, because he invested in it and was the chairman of the group, he would suffer a certain amount of money loss and his reputation was also tarnished. Fortunately, he took various methods to quickly cut off the relationship and kept it alone, and did not suffer much impact (Apple Daily, November 25, 2012).
As the flagship enterprise of the Stanley Ho family, after entering the millennium century, Xinde Enterprise encountered the impact of the rapid decline in Hong Kong's economy caused by the "Asian financial crisis". At that time, the company's main businesses - property real estate, shipping transportation, hotel and catering, tourism and entertainment - fell sharply. In 2003, Hong Kong was hit by the SARS, causing economic and social sentiment to the bottom, and the business of Xinde Enterprises plummeted. In late 2003, the central government of launched the "Individual Tour of Mainland Residents to Hong Kong and Macao" policy, which not only allowed Macau's gambling industry to rise rapidly, but also made all walks of life in Hong Kong have also gained great vitality. The various businesses of Xinde Enterprises also rebounded significantly. For example, the newly completed Kowloon Shengyueju real estate was sold out in a huge profit, bringing the company huge profits. Stanley Ho's chat and laughter when attending events on different occasions can be said to be the most powerful illustration of the company's re-entry journey on the road to prosperity.
Sinde Enterprise is an influential listed company in Hong Kong, we will summarize its performance development since Hong Kong's return. First of all, in terms of net asset value, the company has actually always had outstanding development, from about 5 billion yuan in 1996 to nearly 35 billion yuan in 2017, and its performance in 20 years has been very impressive. Except for 2008 and 2014-2016, the number of which achieved good growth in other years (Figure 2).
Of course, if you look closely at the turnover of Xinde Enterprise, it is not difficult to see the ups and downs and fluctuations between 1996 and 2017 (Figure 3), which also reflects the ups and downs of Hong Kong's economy and society during this period.
For example, from 1996 to 1997, business performance was affected by the "Asian financial crisis"; from 2001 to 2006, it was affected by the long-term economic recession of Hong Kong; as for the ups and downs after 2006, it was driven by the economic recovery; the huge fluctuations after 2009 were affected by the health problems of Stanley Ho and the conflicts within the family, which attracted the most attention of investors.
Figure 4 is the profit performance of Xinde Group before and after taxation. We can clearly see that between 1996 and 2007, the slow growth of corporate profits shows that their profit performance is not outstanding; it once fell in 2008. In the following 10 years, although the profit amount was higher than in the past, it fluctuated greatly and the situation was very unique, which is worthy of in-depth understanding in the future. It can be said that since Hong Kong's return, although the net asset value of Xinde Group has been increasing, its turnover and profit have fluctuated greatly, especially since Stanley Ho's health has worsened and unable to act freely, the situation is of concern, and this also shows that the company has many unstable factors.
Just as the business of Ho Hong Kong and Macao continues to develop and the family’s wealth continues to rise, the death of Yuan Pei’s wife Lai Wanhua further evolved the complex internal relationship of the family. How the family separates and analyzes the products and how the company develops smoothly, please stay tuned for the next issue.
Stanley Ho's 100-year-old life and family legend (Part 2)
Silent the storm of strife
The accidental death of his eldest son prompted Stanley Ho to change his own way and continue to lead the company. At the same time, he promoted the second and three children of the second and third houses. During this period, it took about 40 years to truly complete the entire inheritance and succession process. The time is evident.
Text/Zheng Hongtai Gao Hao
So far, it is rare for rich and powerful people to live a hundred years old, and Stanley Ho is undoubtedly one of the rare cases. What's more special is that his life witnessed the family's decline from prosperity to decline and then towards revival. Although his family is actually a mixed-race group, the continuity of his family not only reveals and demonstrates Chinese traditional culture and values, but also represents the modernization. This can also reveal the connotation and characteristics of Chinese culture: it is prioritized to continuate bloodlines, and also pays attention to glorifying the family, emphasizing the protection of the family, filial piety to parents, and protecting descendants.
Of course, this kind of hard work that goes all out for the interests and glory of one's own family has its limitations and will also cause many problems. This is clearly reflected in the various encounters of Stanley Ho's 100-year-old life - constant right and wrong, and I have passed by death many times, and even been involved in countless disputes. It is not difficult to make people feel that as a microcosm of the nation and society, the family reflects the brilliant and outstanding brilliance of its culture, and it also has disadvantages. It is indeed necessary to examine and reflect on the best and abandon the worst, so that the family can move towards a prosperous road.
Yuan Pei died, and the families fought each other
On February 21, 2004, Yuan Pei’s wife, Lai Wanhua, who had been with Stanley Ho for a long time, finally lost to the disease and died at the age of 82. Stanley Ho was very sad and buried Li Wanhua in a grand manner. At the funeral held at the Catholic Church in Macau, many high-ranking officials attended and expressed their condolences. Stanley Ho’s three concubines did not attend, but only sent their children to express their condolences as representatives.
After the funeral, Lai Wanhua was buried in the Holy Weiji Cemetery (also known as the Old Western Cemetery) on the island of Macau. It is a location with excellent feng shui, and is adjacent to prominent figures in Macau (Sing Tao Daily, February 29, 2004). Since Stanley Ho is not a Catholic, it is almost certain that he will not be buried there in a hundred years, which shows that his last destination should not be with Lai Wanhua.
The death of Li Wanhua means that the first wife (the main wife) has a lack of status, which prompted the second wife Lan Qiongying to fight for Stanley Ho to become the second wife and establish her status as a wife. Lan Qiongying got what she wanted, and was recognized by Stanley Ho, and her status was more stable, which further strengthened the inheritance rights of the children born to Lan Qiongying. But this affected the original "balance of power", causing responses and counterattacks from Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi, and prompting conflicts and differences that had not yet surfaced to emerge quickly.
Because the children born by Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi are still young and are still studying, as mothers, they adopted the strategy of "fighting for their children" - that is, as mothers, they strive for more property and business management rights, and protect the "rights and interests" of their children, Liang Anqi is particularly decisive and enterprising. According to data, Angel Leong has been involved in social affairs in Hong Kong and Macao in high profile since 2004. For example, in 2004, she was appointed as a member of the Election Committee of the Second and Third Chief Executives of the Macao Special Administrative Region; in 2005, she participated in the competition for seats of the Legislative Council of Macau, and won a seat in one blow, and then was re-elected for three consecutive terms. She has also been appointed as Prime Minister of the Hong Kong Polytechnic Bureau (Hong Kong Polytechnic Bureau is a famous charity in Hong Kong, established in 1878 - Editor's note), and has made great contributions ("Director of the Polytechnic Bureau", 2009).
In terms of business, as early as the 1990s, Liang Anqi had directly participated in business operations and was involved in food, entertainment, securities, property and other industries. In 2007, she made a major investment - spending huge sums of money to acquire 20% of the equity of "wireless paid TV" under Hong Kong TV Broadcasting Co., Ltd., becoming a major strategic shareholder, and entering the media industry (Xinbao, August 31, 2007). In addition, like many wives of wealthy families in Hong Kong, Angela Leong spent money to purchase high-quality properties at different times as long-term investments, such as the Mansion at No. 4 Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong Island, Central Entertainment Building, 88 Xingfa Street, Causeway Bay, etc. ("Sudden Week", February 27, 2004). Of course, each investment may not be wholly owned by her, but it reflects an indisputable fact that she has a huge source of funds, allowing her to continuously increase her capital investment and continue to rise in wealth.
Compared with Anqi Liang, Chen Wanzhen is undoubtedly relatively low-key. The latter has not been involved in politics and has not participated in public office or Legislative Council elections. But Chen Wanzhen also served as the ambassador of the Hong Kong Seedling Fund since 2005 (Hong Kong Seedling Fund was established in 1998 and is an editor-in-chief for Hong Kong charity). In 2006, Chen Wanzhen was elected as the Prime Minister of the Third Hospital of Donghua University. At the same time, she also participated in the charity work of the Hong Kong Cancer Prevention Association and made many donations. Whenever she appeared, it naturally became the focus of the spotlight.
In terms of business investment, Chen Wanzhen also started her own business as early as the 1990s, mainly including restaurants, antiques trading and investment. In 2004, Chen Wanzhen established Anwei Management Co., Ltd., mainly to centrally manage the investment in properties under her name including shops, residential buildings, parking spaces, etc., and the more well-known properties she holds include Shiao Anli Garden, Shanding Buli Diameter 5G Bungalow and Unit No. 11 Shoushan Road East ("Sudden Week", February 27, 2004). Although there is not as much information about her business investment and charity activities as Liang Anqi, I believe that she is relatively unwilling to disclose it, and her actual assets should be more than disclosed.
Because the number of children in each room - especially the number of sons - varies greatly, and the ages are very different, the stages and needs of life are also different. When Li Wanhua passed away in 2004, Lan Qiongying's first house had not only improved her status, but her children had already taken the lead in taking over. She firmly occupied an important position in the core business and naturally had an absolute advantage. This naturally made Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi's second house feel unfair and uneasy. But their children are still young after all, so they acted like "mother fights for their children". The reason they emphasized must be the saying that "the mother is weak and the son is young", which forced Stanley Ho to think about their two families - especially Liang Anqi has given birth to more sons. I believe this is the reason why Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi have been frequently moving since 2004.
A stroke fell ill, and the storm was about to come
Five years after Li Wanhua's death, on July 29, 2009, Stanley Ho, who was over 87 years old, suddenly had a stroke, which attracted attention (Apple Daily, August 13, 2009; East Weekly, August 22, 2009). At the beginning, all parties were concerned about Stanley Ho's condition, and even various rumors of his death appeared. However, as the condition stabilized, the family had various actions to compete for family property and corporate controlling rights, and the every move of this prominent family became the focus of the world's attention.
The doctor performed multiple surgeries on Stanley Ho to eliminate blood stasis in the brain, but half of the body lost consciousness requires long-term physical therapy. In order to enable Stanley Ho to recover better, at the doctor's advice, Stanley Ho stayed in the hospital for up to 7 months. He was discharged from the hospital in early March 2010 and was recuperating and conditioning in the No. 1 Repulse Bay mansion (Apple Daily, March 4, 2010).
Stanley Ho is no longer able to freely roam between Hong Kong, Macao and government and business as before, further changes in the family's relationship are inevitable. On January 24, 2011, newspapers from all over the country suddenly rushed to report a major news, saying that Stanley Ho is no longer the major shareholder of "Samboa", but only symbolically holds 100 shares. Lan Qiongying and her children, Chen Wanzhen and her children became the main beneficiaries of the 32% controlling stake that Stanley Ho originally held. In response, Stanley Ho immediately clarified through his lawyer, saying that he was "unaware of" the relevant arrangements, believing that it was "robbery", saying that he would take legal action against the relevant persons, and appealed to the Hong Kong Court on January 27 (South China Morning Post, January 25-28, 2011); Apple Daily, January 28, 2011).
On March 10, 2011, Stanley Ho signed and published a "joint statement" with his family, stating that the "Ho family incident" that has been widely reported in the past two months was finally "successfully resolved". The previous appeal was cancelled, "After friendly coordination and frank dialogue between all parties, the family members reached a consensus with mutual understanding and concession" and signed a "reconciliation agreement". Everyone agreed to work together to develop the Macau gaming business that Stanley Ho worked hard on, and "and carry forward it" (Ming Pao, March 11, 2011; South China Morning Post, March 11, 2011). At this point, a storm that originally made people feel like a storm seemed to be coming, but Stanley Ho could still take charge of the overall situation, seemed to be able to end.
In this property dispute, Yuan Pei Li Wanhua's house should have obtained more property and equity, but in fact it was the least divided. Most of the property and business fell into the hands of three concubines and their children ("Suddenly A Week", February 27, 2004). It can be said that Li Wanhua's children (commonly known as Changfang) have neither shared the controlling stake in the family business nor have other types of assets. According to Xiao Wenzheng, the daughter of Li Wanhua's eldest daughter, He Chaoying, the eldest house was only divided into No. 1 Repulse Bay Mansion with a market value of 1.6 billion yuan at the time ("One Weekly", February 12, 2015). The reason should be related to the fact that the eldest son has no male descendants: after Ho Youguang's death, he left two daughters, Ho Chaoying and Ho Chaoxian each had one daughter, and Ho Chaoxiong was not married, so Ho Hongshen only allocated some property to them in the form of a dowry.
Ho Chaoying, the eldest daughter, who returned to Hong Kong after Lai Wanhua's health deteriorated in her later years, has become worse and worse since her mother passed away. Due to lack of comprehensive care, He Chaoying died in Yanghe Hospital on December 4, 2014 at the age of 68 ("Daily Headlines", December 9, 2014). Stanley Ho should be very sad about this, because this is another time when he "great-haired man gives away a black-haired man." What is puzzling is that three years after He Chaoying's death, the cemetery in Zhaoyuan Cemetery was still only covered with canvas, and there was not even a tombstone, which was in a strong contrast with the situation of other tombs or family members. This is undoubtedly a footnote for the eldest daughter of a wealthy family with a wealthy family worth over 10 billion yuan. The eldest daughter is undoubtedly a footnote for the fact that the eldest child will not receive "fair" treatment after the separation, and even has a chilling feeling ("Daily Headlines", December 31, 2017).
Dividing family and different properties, each house shows its strengths
People often say that history is written by the winner, but family is not the same. After the 2011 family dispute was resolved, the eldest son was excluded because he had no bloodline. The concubines of the second, third and fourth rooms and the children they gave birth to became winners. After obtaining the benefits they thought they deserved and clearing their respective rights and responsibilities, they each set out on their own, devoted themselves to their own business, and proved their strength and talents through actions.
Let’s talk about Lan Qiongying’s room first.As the eldest daughter of the second wife, Ho Chaoqiong has participated in the management of Xinde Enterprise since the 1980s. After her father was older, she was entrusted with greater management rights. She also participated in the sub-cards added after the opening of Macau's gambling industry and became the main shareholder of MGM Jindian, leading the business development. After her father suffered a stroke, she naturally took on more leadership practices, which allowed her to play an important role in the family storm in 2011. After that, her leadership position was further determined, and although her performance fluctuated, the company's net asset value continued to rise steadily. In 2017, Stanley Ho announced his resignation as chairman of Xinde Group and was replaced by Chauqiong Ho, and he truly completed his succession.
Stanley Ho not only stepped down as chairman of Xinde Group in 2017, but also resigned the position of "SOC" chairman at the same time and handed over to He Chaofeng as the leader. Although He Chaofeng has never been as famous as He Chaoqiong, in fact, the life experiences of the two sisters are quite similar. He Chaofeng grew up in Hong Kong and graduated from the University of Southern California. Later, he obtained a master's degree in business administration from the University of Toronto, Canada. After returning to Hong Kong in the 1980s, he participated in different family business management. He joined Xinde Enterprise in the 1990s, and later participated in shipping, tourism, entertainment and property investment. At the same time, in the 1990s, Ho Chaofeng married Ho Zhijian, son of Hong Kong Malaysian owner Ho Shounan. It was also a marriage of "strong combination". After marriage, the two had two daughters Ho Siheng and Ho Qianheng. Unfortunately, their marriage hit a rock in 2016 and ended with divorce, and He Chaofeng was as devoted to her career as her sister He Chaoqiong. After Stanley Ho suffered a stroke, her division of labor with Chaoqiong Ho was clearer. She focused on hosting "SJM", while Chaoqiong Ho focused on managing the Sindhi Group.
Stanley Ho obviously pays more attention to the oldest son, Yau Long, who is the oldest among his sons. After joining Melco International Development in 2001, He was appointed as managing director, leading the practice. In 2002, Melco Macau Casino, a subsidiary of Melco International, obtained the deputy card of gambling franchise, and some people called Lawrence Ho the "little gambling king". In 2006, because he felt that Yeo Ho could stand alone, Stanley Ho resigned as chairman and was replaced by Stanley Ho, which further showed that Stanley Ho wanted his son to have a greater say. In operating the diverse business of Melco, Lawrence Ho clearly demonstrated his courage to innovate and unconventional style. As for his down-to-earth and personal actions, the company has achieved good development.
It can be said that since Stanley Ho announced his retirement in 2017, it marks the full handover of management power. Lan Qiongying's children have basically taken over the dominance of their father's flagship company and become the successor of the new generation of the family. This is related to their older age and early entry into the company. Looking back, Stanley Ho once said in an interview that he wanted to retire at the age of 55. At that time, his successor should be his eldest son, Ho Youguang. However, the eldest son's accidental death prompted him to change his mind and continue to lead the company himself, and at the same time promoted the second and third children. During this period, it took about 40 years to truly complete the entire inheritance and succession process, which shows how long it took. Fortunately, he lived a long life, so that he could resolve the vicious disputes among the family with extremely complex structures and relationships.
Compared with the children of Lan Qiongying's one family, the children of the other two houses Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi are relatively young. Due to the large age gap, they are basically unable to hand over with Stanley Ho. They can only hold shares or assets by their mothers to promote them to start their own businesses or open up other career paths. If they join Sindh, "Somall" or Melco, it will be difficult to fight for brothers and sisters who have already had great power too early, and conflicts will arise. According to the information, Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi have fought for huge amounts of property as their children's "agents" ("Sudden Week", February 27, 2004), which can be used as startup capital in the future to support them in searching for dreams, among which He Youjun's example is the most prominent.
Liang Anqi's son He Youjun was born in January 1995. He has shown outstanding qualifications since childhood and is particularly talented in mathematics. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the age of 18. After graduating from a bachelor's degree, he stayed at school to continue his studies, obtained a master's degree in finance, and then returned to Hong Kong.
Source: China Business News
On May 26, 2020, " Gambling King " Stanley Ho died at the age of 98. As an iconic figure in Macau, the Stanley Ho family and their business are closely related to Macau and have a deep relationship. This wealthy man who is famous at home and abroad, and has an influence all over the world is not only famous for his wealth that can rival a country, but also attracts much attention for his controversial gambling industry and his group of wives and children.
In 2019, the magazine "Family Business" published three series of articles "Stanley Ho's Centenary Life and Family Legend" by Joint Convener of the Global China Research Project at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and co-director of the Center for Social and Political Development Research, and Gao Hao , director of the Global Family Business Research Center at the Wudaokou School of Finance at Tsinghua University. The full text is about 30,000 words, and the following is the original text.
Stanley Ho's centenary life and family legend (Part 1)
Revival under setbacks
The reputation, status, connections and moral capital of the family (especially the grandfather Ho Dong ) has provided support for the rapid rise of Stanley Ho, but the setback of his father's departure and the decline of his family may be an extremely important factor in inspiring Stanley Ho's progress from a certain perspective.
Text/Zheng Hongtai Gao Hao
2019 is the 20th anniversary of Macau's return to the motherland. More than a year later, November 2020 will be the 100th birthday of Stanley Ho, who is known as the "king of gambling". Stanley Ho can be said to be an iconic figure in Macau. Both family and business are closely related to Macau and have a deep relationship. This wealthy man who is famous at home and abroad, and has an influence all over the world is not only famous for his wealth that can rival a country, but also attracts much attention for his controversial gambling industry and his group of wives and children.
Although Stanley Ho’s legendary life and his family’s stories are often reported, and there are many academic and semi-academic research and analysis, it is always difficult to satisfy. It is either too superficial, lacks analysis, or problems such as incomplete information and biased opinions.
In fact, Stanley Ho should be the third generation after the family became prosperous. Stanley Ho was born in a wealthy family in Hong Kong. His father, Ho Shiguang, was eager to get rid of his father's stigma and be more successful than the previous generation, but ended up falling into the trap of others. Not only did he fall into the danger of "losing his fortune", he also had to avoid leaving home, which also affected Stanley Ho's life path. Fortunately, Stanley Ho made great efforts to turn the tide in the future and make the family comeback. The key to Stanley Ho’s revitalization of the family is that in addition to his personal courage and talent, the family’s connections cannot be ignored. Among the examples where many wealthy families unfortunately fell when they were rich to the second and third generations, but then they were able to revive and even create a prosperous scene, Stanley Ho's story undoubtedly attracted the most attention and is of great reference value.
In this article, we outline the development history of Stanley Ho’s family and business from the perspective of the interweaving of family comprehensive development and internal and external relations, first, we outline the development history of Stanley Ho’s family and business, especially the key to getting rich; second, we sort out the interaction between family internal and external relations at different levels, explain the importance of online capital, and find the reasons for the legend of Stanley Ho.
The rise of comprador families
On the appearance alone, it is not difficult to see that Stanley Ho is a mixed-race European and Asian child, which is the result of frequent exchanges between China and the United States after the opening of Hong Kong. Although the British colonial rulers at that time adopted a racist policy, regarded themselves as the best race and established barriers between China and the United States, they could not isolate contact and interaction between men and women.
After the birth of Eurasian mixed-race children, due to being excluded by Chinese and Western society, growth and education naturally emphasize reality and survival. They do not expect to be able to get fame after studying hard, but instead enter schools that emphasize practicality and Western teaching to receive education, which allows them to master the basic knowledge of Chinese and Western languages and modern society, and become intermediaries that communicate with China and abroad in the future - compradors. In the special environment in Hong Kong, these Eurasian mixed-race families are the first to rise and get rich quickly. Stanley Ho's grandfather, Ho Fu, and his grand uncle Ho Dong, and his grand uncle Ho Gantang and others, are the most representative figures who have risen rapidly in that environment and are the first generation compradors of the Eurasian mixed-race group.
Stanley Ho's great-grandfather was European, named Ho Shiwen (C.H.M. Bosman). Shortly after he opened his port in Hong Kong, he traveled across the ocean to the East to do business. He gave birth to mixed-race children such as Ho Dong and Ho Fu, who were described as the "rootless generation" with the Chinese woman Shi (Smith, 1983). However, because he had no marriage, he left his children alone to take care of them. Mother and son depend on each other for life. The behavior, language and thoughts of a group of mixed-race children are no different from those of ordinary Chinese. When they grow up, they were sent by their mother to study at the newly established Western-style school (Huangren Academy) and by chance when they become adults, they embarked on the road of comprador (Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2007; Ho, 2010). It should be pointed out that in the early years, because mixed-race children were excluded and discriminated against by mainstream Chinese society, they could only form their own groups, and most of them could only intermarry within their own groups. In addition, most of them entered Huangren Academy, so they formed an entangled and overlapping network (Hall, 1992).
The so-called comprador refers to a person who is hired by a foreign company and is responsible for all matters to China, including managing Chinese employees, contacting and interacting with the Chinese government, and even collecting commercial intelligence, paying for goods and exchanges of silver dollars, etc. They have the characteristics of "both servant and master" in their roles. Their income is not just salary and commission, but also implicit income related to business transactions at different levels.
More specifically, since compradors are intermediaries of different races, groups and businesses, in that era of language barriers, capital is not smooth, and many obstacles, they can often obtain income directly and indirectly, and get rich quickly. Ho Dong, Ho Fu and others were able to join the comprador ranks shortly after the opening of the port in Hong Kong, and especially became the comprador of Jardine (Matheson and Co, which was later , Jardine and Co., which later reorganized its core business and operated under the name of Jardine and Foreign Company, which will be called the latter in the following text) - which made them quickly become rich in the 1880s.
After He Dong and He Fu became rich as compradors of Jardine Wong foreign companies, they arranged their sons, nephews, in-laws and other mixed-race children to serve as compradors in different positions or in different foreign companies. At the same time, they operate different businesses themselves, open up wealth, and form a comprador and business network that is closely linked, mutually relied on, and prospers with all prospers.
The core of this comprador family is of course the three grandfathers of Stanley Ho, grand uncle and grand uncle. They took turns to serve as the chief comprador of Jardine Wong in the form of "brothers withdrew from their brothers", and they firmly grasped the core business of the British-funded bank (Zheng and Wong, 2010); the periphery consists of other family members, in-laws and mixed-race children, etc., who are divided into different departments or serve as compradors of different foreign banks: Stanley Hong's grandfather Luo Changzhao and uncle Zhang Peijie are assistant compradors of Yardsaw Foreign Company, father He Shiguang and uncle He Shijie are compradors of New Sassoon Foreign Company, his brother He Hongbang is compradors of HSBC Bank, uncle He Shirong and He Shijian are compradors of HSBC Bank, and uncle He Shiyao and He Shihua are compradors of bank; as for in-laws, such as uncle Huang Jinfu as compradors of Hong Kong Kowloon Warehouse, cousin Xie Shiping as compradors of Atlantic Ocean (2.960, 0.09, 3.14%), and cousin Xie Jiabao as compradors of Japan Post and Ship Company. The entire family forms a circle with all-in-one business and network connections, which tightly controls the lifeline of Hong Kong's business and economy.
In fact, members of this family not only serve as compradors of many powerful foreign companies, but also established solely or in partnership to meet different business needs, engaged in trade, opium (although opium was a legal patent industry at that time, the society still regarded it as a side business), sugar, shipping, banking, property and real estate, etc., and the family's wealth continued to expand. My grandfather Ho Dong became the richest man in Hong Kong, and my grandfather and uncle were naturally rich, becoming a wealthy family in Hong Kong at that time (see "Family Business" magazine for details in February and March 2019 "The He Dong Family's China-Overall Integration and Harmony of the Government and Business" together.
What cannot be ignored is that Stanley Ho's grandfather Ho Fu was favored by the British Hong Kong authorities from 1913 to 1924 and was appointed as a member of the Default Bureau (similar to today's Legislative Council). This was the very few Chinese who could participate in politics at that time. He had a very prominent position and brought greater influence to the family. After Ho Fu, the son-in-law of his grandfather Ho Dong, Luo Wenjin, not only served as a member of the Legislative Council, but also as an Executive Council member, with greater political power, further indicating that the Ho family's wealth and power was great, which was really unparalleled in Hong Kong at that time.
The greed of fathers has entered a scam, and the family has fallen into
In 1926, grandfather He Fu died of illness at the age of 63. Stanley Ho was only 5 years old at the time and had not yet entered the school for formal education. After He Fu died, his property in his name was divided equally by his sons (see the tree map of Stanley Ho’s family), and Stanley Ho’s father, Ho Shiguang, naturally got a share. The He family has become rich in the 1880s, and by the time He Fu died in the 1820s, they have experienced nearly 40 years of wealth. Since He Fu gave birth to many children, the property of each house after the separation of the family was naturally "pained in comparison" and was much less. Despite this, he is still rich. First, he actually gets a lot of property, second, each has a business, and third, he also has comprador jobs. Unfortunately, this situation didn't last long, and He Shiguang was in a dilemma due to his temporary greed, which affected Stanley Ho's life.
In the late 1920s and early 1930s after He Fu's family split, affected by the harsh international economic environment, countless small and medium-sized enterprises in Hong Kong were in trouble in operation. Jardinet, a leading Hong Kong enterprise, could not survive alone, showing a strong external force on the outside and working on the inside, which affected the contradiction between the family and the foreign company. One of the statements is that the Jardines Foreign Company's major team saw that the company's business development was stagnant, while the He family, who served as comprador, made great profits from different businesses and investments, was very jealous and even raised suspicion, suspected that the He family deceived their superiors and concealed their subordinates and secretly "eat" the company's interests. It is said that it was due to the dissatisfaction and distrust of foreign companies' major groups with the Ho family that they led a "Yimah Stock Scam", which made Stanley Ho's father He Shiguang "lost all his money and his family decline overnight" in this scam called the "Celestial Fairy Bureau" ( Leng Xia , 1994). This phenomenon also occurred in other foreign companies at that time. For example, the senior team of Pacific Foreign Company suspected that its comprador, the Mo family, had eaten up the interests. The two sides had a dispute in the 1920s and 1930s, and finally asked the Mo family to "compensate" the foreign company's losses (Zhang Zhongli, Chen Zengnian, Yao Xinrong, 1991).
Comprehensive various information, this "scam" happened in 1932. At that time, Stanley Ho's father, Ho Shiguang and his uncles (Ho Shiyao and Ho Shiliang) were all compradors of Jardine Mahjong. One day, He Shiliang entered the office of a foreign company to discuss business, but the office was empty. He Shiliang "accidentally" saw a private letter from a senior member of Jardine Wong Foreign Company. The content was related to the inside story of Jardine Wong Foreign Company's stock. From the future development, what he saw should be that Jardine Wong Foreign Company decided to inject a large amount of capital into the company's stock. This means that the company's stock price will rise sharply (Leng Xia, 1994).
He Shiliang felt like he had a treasure and thought it was a great opportunity to make a fortune, so he discussed with his brothers who had a deep relationship, He Shirong, a comprador of HSBC Bank (adopted to He Dong since childhood), and He Shiguang and He Shiyao, who were also compradors of Jardine Wong, decided to buy Jardine Wong's stocks, even without borrowing debts, so as to wait for the stock price to rise and make huge profits (Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2009). However, when they spent all their money to absorb Jardine Wong foreign stocks, they found that the stock price not only did not rise as expected, but instead declined. Later, they found that the letter was a fake document carefully planned by Jardine Wong foreign stocks, deliberately letting He Shiliang see it, luring the He brothers to buy Jardine Wong foreign stocks and transfer the losses caused by the poor management of the foreign stocks. The sharp drop in Jardine Wong foreign stocks made the He brothers heavily in debt in this investment.
As a result, because he could not bear the debt, He Shiyao was ill and died with hatred; He Shiliang looked for a short-lived view and committed suicide by swallowing a gun in his family's mansion in Datan Water Pond (Hong Kong Telegraph, 1933).As for He Shiguang, although he sold his property, he was still insolvent and finally chose to go far away. It is said that he fled to Saigon, Vietnam with some of his children, leaving only his wife and young children such as Stanley Ho in Hong Kong (Leng Xia, 1994; Lin Zhongmei, 2001). Fortunately, He Shirong was because he was not Jardine Magazine comprador, and he was not a serious player in the role of the participation, and He Dong had acquiesced to take on the debt, so he avoided the disaster (Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2009).
Stanley Ho’s father and uncle fell into a dilemma due to a temporary greed, which led to the family’s decline and even lost their lives, which brought a huge impact to the family. However, Stanley Ho’s wife was dragged down by the incident and her life underwent a major change. How much impact did the incident have on them? There are many sayings, some say that their lives are falling to the bottom of the valley, and some say that although their living standards are far different from those in the past, they can still live a rich life. A more reasonable speculation should be that "there are three-point nails for the bad ship". After all, Stanley Ho's grandfather Ho Dong was still the richest man in Hong Kong at that time. No matter how lonely and cold he was, he would not have watched his blood brother's children stay in the streets. This further shows that there has not been much change in the basic life of Stanley Ho's family - at least there is no evidence to shake the fundamental life. Therefore, Stanley Ho was still able to study at Huang Ren Academy. After completing the middle school course, he was admitted to , Hong Kong University, and in 1939, he continued his studies.
No matter what the truth is, when his father He Shiguang left, Stanley Ho was only about 13 years old. Even though he was still worried about life and had no need for food and clothing, he just changed from a wealthy person to a middle-aged rich man. However, the Jardines incident always caused by He Shiguang, and some people in the family even died. In addition, the disgraceful act of "running away" due to debts affected their family, and they were inevitably rolled in front of others and even insulted in person.
Stanley Ho often talks about a story when his family was in a downturn: When he was a teenager, he had tooth decay and asked his relatives who were dentists to fill their teeth, but he was ridiculed. The relatives said, "I don't have money, let's go! What teeth should I repair? Just pull out all my teeth." (Leng Xia, 1994) These cold words must have caused great harm to Stanley Ho, who is in a sensitive adolescence stage, which will make him still be resentful until he is old.
Stanley Ho, who experienced a huge family change, did not recover. Instead, it aroused the spirit of fighting and unyielding. He was determined to study hard, and his son was his mother Zhang, and the Zhongxing family. He completed his secondary school courses with excellent grades and was admitted to the College of Science, the University of Hong Kong, which countless students dream of. I believe that his life plan at that time may be just aspiring to embark on a professional path and may not necessarily devote himself to the business world. But in 1941, he was still one year away from graduating from college, but was forced to drop out of school. This year, the Japanese army invaded Hong Kong, the Governor of Hong Kong, Yang Muqi surrendered, and the University of Hong Kong also stopped. Stanley Ho, who was still working hard to handle the exam, had to decide to leave Hong Kong and go to Macau. Perhaps he could not have guessed that at that moment, this decision completely changed the fate of his personal and even the entire family, and became a turning point for his Zhongxing family.
Turning to Macau for a breakthrough First one million
Macau, separated from Hong Kong, has a smaller territory and population than Hong Kong (Huang Qichen, 1999). Because Portugal is in a neutral position, it avoids the destruction of Japanese artillery fire, can maintain peace, and the economy can continue to develop. Macau has become a refuge for countless people, and Stanley Ho and his grand uncle Ho Dong are also among the many refugees.
According to Stanley Ho, when he went to Australia, he only brought 10 yuan ( Huang Zhen , 1981), which can be considered as having nothing and no developed capital. But he was only 20 years old at that time, young, strong and ambitious, and longed to achieve something and revitalize his father's room with his own strength. Perhaps it is this momentum that faces dilemma and is not afraid of losing, which has allowed him to create a new world.
At that time, people from all walks of life in Macau gathered. Although the war was everywhere, Macau's commercial trade was still active, and gambling and entertainment were also prosperous. Although the business environment during the war was harsh, those who knew how to be flexible and adaptable and dared to take risks would find space and opportunities to make breakthroughs. The same was true for Stanley Ho's start.
Under the beautiful words and guarantees of his grand uncle He Dong, he took advantage of the convenience of teaching English to gradually open up Macau's interpersonal network and was soon invited to join CIMB.
CIMB was the largest trading company in Macau at that time, mainly engaged in the trade of rice, grain, cotton yarn and tung oil. Stanley Ho said this: I became the secretary of the (CIMB) company because I am well-versed in chemistry, and they knew that I could trust - I am Sir Ho Dong's nephew. (Mai Jieling, 1999)
Stanley Ho made it very clear that the identity of He Dong’s nephew is an important part of the trust of shareholders of all parties, so he was recognized by all parties and held the power to operate the entire company. It can be seen that Ho Dong's reputation, relationships or recommendations are not comparable to Ho's help when he first started, so that he can climb to the upper class of society, meet prominent figures, and win their trust, thereby building his own social connections and online capital. These invisible intangible capital can be said to be priced at gold, and the power it can exert cannot be underestimated.
Of course, the ironwork depends on his own strength. If Stanley Ho has no talent, it will not only be impossible to gain the support of his grand uncle Ho Dong, but it will also be impossible to gain the appreciation of others. Stanley Ho himself not only showed the spirit of being a newborn calf, but also had the courage and fighting spirit to make a fortune in the great era, so he was able to quickly get on the throne. For talented and capable people, even if it is just a word of encouragement, a reminder and a support, it can benefit them endlessly.
Data shows that after serving as the secretary of Lianchang Company, Ho Hongshen, with his extraordinary courage, outstanding talents and leadership skills, led by example in that era of rumbling artillery fire and turbulent political situation. Even when life is hanging on the line, he can make accurate decisions, turn dangers into safety, and keep business successful, bringing extremely rich returns to the company. Not only has he won the praise of his boss and admired his peers, he has also established his personal status in the world, which has made many people admire him (Huang Zhen, 1981; Leng Xia, 1994).
While in Macau, Stanley Ho frequently interacted with the Portuguese authorities and Portuguese people due to his work relationship, so he decided to learn Portuguese and improve his personal abilities. Unexpectedly, this unexpectedly made my marriage. While attending a Portuguese school, he met Clementina Leitao, who lives near the school. She is a native Portuguese woman, 3 years younger than Stanley Ho, and is a Portuguese lawyer C.M. Dr. Leitao's pearl in his hand.
Stanley Ho fell in love with Clementina at first sight, carried out a passionate pursuit, and finally won the hearts of the beauty, and got together in 1943. Clementina later gave birth to a Chinese name called Li Wanhua . After marriage, she gave birth to a son ( Ho Youguang ) and three daughters ( Ho Chaoying , Ho Chaoxian , Ho Chaoxiong ) (See the tree picture of Stanley Ho’s family). By making connections with Clementina, Stanley Ho entered the upper-class Portuguese circle, greatly expanded his network, and registered as a resident of Macau.
According to traditional sayings, Li Wanhua is very "helping his husband's luck". Shortly after she passed by, Stanley Ho was promoted from Lianchang's secretary to partner, and from a "worker" to a boss. He no longer relies on just one salary, but can share the company's profits. By the end of 1944, according to Stanley Ho's own recollection, at the age of 23, he had already earned the "first million yuan" of his life (Huang Zhen, 1981). You know, the value of one million yuan at that time and one million yuan today is a huge difference, and it is really an astronomical wealth.
Capital expansion "somestor" first 10 million
On August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, Macau lost its "special status", and its business environment changed suddenly. Despite this, Stanley Ho, who is no longer a wealthy man in Wu, takes advantage of the development opportunities in the new environment, especially the established connections and capital, to continue to expand, making his wealth and wealth continue to rise and his career rise.
Comprehensive various data shows that after the war, Stanley Ho, on the one hand, partnered with , He Shanheng, to form the "Damei Foreign Company", which is mainly engaged in the resale of post-war material business, including the import and export trade of starting velvet (textiles), fuel, hardware and chemical raw materials.At the same time, he also established a shipping company to purchase a modern ship with a passenger capacity of 300 people to operate passenger transport between Hong Kong and Macau.
Stanley Ho, who already has a huge wealth, will naturally not be limited to Macau. He has begun to focus on developing Hong Kong with greater potential and make more active investments. After the war, due to the influx of refugees and the gathering of capitalists in Hong Kong, the real estate market was particularly hot. Stanley Ho, who had a sharp business vision, naturally joined in and established the Leon Construction Company with his friends to build buildings and enter the real estate industry (He Wenxiang, 1992).
According to Stanley Ho himself, he would "flip his personal wealth several times" like Sun Wukong's "somestorm". Although only he can understand the knowledge and details of it, he also leaked some of the tricks in it when interviewed by a reporter. He said this:
Making full use of capital depends on the support of banks, and doing real estate cannot be done without banks. I am very credited when I was in real estate. I borrowed money from the bank as usual and never paid it back late. When the money is over, the money should be returned to others as soon as possible. Never delay it, so the bank trusts me. (He Wenxiang, 1992)
After establishing Lian Construction Company to enter the real estate industry, Ho Hongshen used the capital of bank credit to leverage the power to explore larger business channels and enter a market with greater profits. He attaches importance to personal credibility. His style of borrowing money is only able to repay early and not late. This will naturally help him build reputation and credibility and create good conditions in seeking more and better bank financial support, so he can achieve good results in real estate development.
It is precisely with this investment trick that "borrow money with money" and can quickly recover funds, Stanley Ho has been constantly developing, and his business scale is naturally getting bigger and bigger, and his personal wealth is constantly expanding. By around 1958, he was only 37 years old at that time, and according to himself, he "had already had a net worth of ten million" (He Wenxiang, 1992: 60).
It can be said that in the 1940s and 1950s after World War II, Hong Kong and Macao undoubtedly entered another extremely special period of development. In that background or atmosphere, the residents of Hong Kong and Macao were panicked and at a loss. In this regard, Stanley Ho seemed to be indifferent and had a very high risk, but it was the best indicator for business to have great profits. Therefore, he adopted a more aggressive strategy, using the funds borrowed from bank loans to support the development of real estate and construction business, allowing continuous breakthroughs in business between Hong Kong and Macao and became a hot and important figure in Hong Kong and Macao.
Ascending to the throne of the gambling king
What made Stanley Ho famous all over the world not only had his wealth and wealth continuously increased explosively, but also became the "gambling king". According to data, Macau had implemented a gambling and gambling policy as early as the second half of the 19th century. After the outbreak of the World War II Pacific (3.130, -0.03, -0.95%) war, Taixing Company, composed of Fu Laorong and Gao Kening, won the gambling franchise in Macau, opening a new page in Macau's gambling industry.
After the end of World War II, the gambling industry was still developing and stable. By the end of the 1950s, three important changes occurred: one was that the Macau gambling industry franchise held by Taixing Company had been nearly 25 years, and it had to be re-bidged when the franchise expired in December 1961; the second was that Fu Laorong, who had always been the head of the company, died in 1960, and Taixing Company lost the leader who ordered all parties; the third was that the Macau Governor was changed at that time, and when the then Governor Ma Ji was obviously dissatisfied with Taixing Company's performance, and during his tenure, he had been planning a new franchise license bidding, which made the Macau Gambling franchise real bidding (Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001).
At that time, , Ye Han , who was known as the "Gambling Saint", always wanted to bid for the Macau gambling franchise license, but he was unable to enter. Ye Han, born in Jiangmen, Xinhui, Guangdong in 1904, is said to have been good at gambling since childhood and is well-versed in gambling skills. He once worked in Fu Laorong's gambling company, but later the two turned against each other. Although Ye Han once searched for places to start gambling, he eventually focused on Macau, even if he wanted to "confront the head-on" with his old employer (Xiao Liang, Xin Lei, 2005).For the bidding and gambling franchise license, Ye Han lacks financial resources, secondly, Macau has weak interpersonal relationships, and thirdly, he has no Portuguese identity and does not meet the basic conditions for licensing. Therefore, Ye Han found out through Ye Deli's relationship, Stanley Ho - Ye Deli's wife is Stanley Ho's sister He Wanwan ("Memoirs of Ten Girls: Confrontation with the Devil", 2007). There are also information that Ye Deli and Ye Deli should have a kinship relationship. The two met in Vietnam in the 1940s and 1950s, and had contact and dated Stanley Ho's father He Shiguang - Ye Deli rented He Shiguang's local casino (Leng Xia, 1994; Huang Zhen, 1981). Of course, Stanley Ho was very interested in Ye Han's proposal, but felt that he was short of financial resources, so he came to Huangren Academy classmate Ho Ying-tung , and everyone participated in the bidding together to compete with the Taixing companies of Fu and Gao (Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001).
Because of the strong partnership and the bid price is slightly higher than that of Taixing Company, in the bidding for the gambling franchise license in October 1961, Ho Hongjie and Ye Han's "Australia Entertainment" bid 3.167 million yuan, narrowly defeating Taixing's bid of 3.15 million yuan (Leng Xia, 1994:91), successfully repelled Taixing Company, seized the franchise of Macau's gambling industry from Fu and Masters, and officially registered on May 26, 1962 (He Weijie, 2011), forming "Macao Tourism and Entertainment Co., Ltd." (referred to as "Australia Entertainment", STDM). Stanley Ho formally signed a gambling franchise contract with the new Macau Governor Luo Bixin on March 30, 1962 as a representative of the consortium. This not only opened a new page in Macau's gaming industry, but also marked a new milestone in Stanley Ho's life and career. "Australia Entertainment" is chaired by Ye Deli, Ye Han and Ho Ying-tung serve as executive directors, and Stanley Ho serves as managing directors as shareholder representatives and licensees. In addition, Ye Han also serves as general manager.
After obtaining the gambling franchise in 1962, Stanley Ho, Ye Han, Ho Ying-tung, Ye Deli and others have invested a lot in Macau to build facilities such as D, hotels and docks. Due to business needs, Stanley Ho naturally has to spend most of his time in Macau to manage his business. Although there were many difficulties and challenges at the beginning of the business development, such as poor smooth coordination of business operations and threats of social forces to their families, they were eventually resolved one by one (Huang Zhen, 1981; Leng Xia, 1994).
As we all know, most of the tourists and gamblers in Macau in their early years came from Hong Kong, and most of them entered Macau by water. Stanley Ho, who has started operating ferry services in Hong Kong and Macao since the war, naturally would not let go of this goose that could lay golden eggs. In 1964, it increased its investment significantly and introduced new hydrofoil boats to improve service quality and shorten the transportation time between the two places. The improvement in transportation between the two places will naturally attract more tourists to Macau, which will stimulate the gambling industry. It can be seen that Stanley Ho's large-scale investment from transportation importers has achieved multiple results in one shot.
However, Stanley Ho's journey to the gambling king is not smooth. After "Australia Entertainment" obtained the right to operate the gambling franchise, the leadership power actually fell into the hands of Ye Han, who was very familiar with gambling and had a very strong position in the gambling world, and Stanley Ho could only surrender. Because Ye Han is old and still has the style of an old-school gangster, both business promotion, management and service support are considered to be unable to keep up with the changes in the times and are even more incompatible with Stanley Ho's management style. In addition, both of them have a personality that is unwilling to be inferior to others, so the conflicts between the two sides are gradually accumulating (Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001), and finally a struggle pattern of "one mountain cannot accommodate two tigers".
At the beginning of the gambling business, Stanley Ho didn't know much about the industry and was at the second place, and he was willing to obey Ye Han's instructions in everything. But as time went by, when he quickly grasped the various tips and details of the gambling industry, he naturally wanted to increase his dominance. Especially when he felt that Ye Han's management method was out of place, conflicts and disputes suddenly arose. At the beginning, everyone still felt that this was just a small problem that could be adjusted, but over time, the differences not only did not decrease, but instead expanded, so there was a competition between light and dark.
Because Stanley Ho is developing his Macau business while also taking into account Hong Kong investment, Hong Kong and Macao ferry services have developed rapidly due to the gambling business, so the profits are very generous; and obtaining the land of Hong Kong and Macao terminals from the Hong Kong and British governments is a milestone in development and strengthening the company's strength. In the early 1970s, facing the major opportunity of the sudden opening of the Hong Kong stock market, Ho Hong-Hong-Hong-Tong discussed with important shareholders Ho Ying-Tong and others, he decided to reorganize the company into a Xinde Enterprise, go public in 1972 to raise funds, absorb public capital to promote business, and allow the company to develop more (Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2006).
With a richer wealth, Stanley Ho naturally cannot tolerate living under Ye Han. When it comes to kung fu at the gambling table, Ye Han is indeed better than Stanley Ho, but when it comes to personnel and power struggles, Stanley Ho is even better than that. Not to mention the main partners - Ye Deli (Stanley Ho's brother-in-law) and Ho Ying-tung (Old classmate of Stanley Ho's School of Emperor Ho's College) - were found by Stanley Ho, and his relationship with the Macau Portuguese authorities and native Portuguese is his strength. The two's battle for "Australia Entertainment" entered a fierce stage in 1974.
Stanley Ho's mother Xian Xingyun died in 1951 at the age of 62 (Hall, 1992). In 1975, Stanley Ho's father, Ho Shiguang, died at the age of 87. He Shiguang returned to Hong Kong in the 1950s, but has always been extremely low-key. Stanley Ho first handled his father's funeral and buried his father in the family's Zhaoyuan Cemetery. After he had the same coffin as his mother who had been dead for many years, he focused on a comprehensive attack and fought for the control of "Australia Entertainment".
In 1975, Ye Han realized that the controlling and management backbones had all been attributed to Stanley Ho, and his advantage was no longer available, so he followed suit and decently "abdicated and gave way to the virtuous" on the grounds that he was over 70 years old and should retreat to the second line, and handed over the leadership of "Australia Entertainment" to Stanley Ho, who was the main force to manage the New Portuguese JING (Grand Lisboa). Only then did Stanley Ho truly ascend to the throne of the gambling king. Ye Han completely withdrew from the Australian Entertainment in 1982 and transferred the 10% stake he held to Cheng Yutong for 300 million yuan.
Led by Stanley Ho, a new development pattern emerged in "Australia Entertainment" (Huang Jun, 1981; Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001). However, the open and secret struggle between Ye He and the other two has not yet ended completely, such as Ye Han once colluded with other businessmen to participate in the bidding for Macau gambling franchise licenses, founding horse racing carriage meetings and high sea gambling wheels (erhu, 1980; Wei Ling, 1980). It was not until May 7, 1997 that when the 92-year-old Ye Han passed away, and Stanley Ho went to pay his respects in person, that the grudge between the two new and old gambling kings finally came to an end.
From the decline of his father's "run away" in Vietnam in 1934, to the end of 1941, Stanley Ho switched to Macau to start his career, earning his first pot of gold, developing businesses including trade, transportation, real estate and construction, which made his personal wealth soar. Later, he was involved in gambling business and successfully obtained a gambling franchise. Since then, he has made a fortune. He ascended the throne of the gambling king in 1975, marking the peak of Stanley Ho's life career (Huang Jun, 1981; Leng Xia, 1994; Yang Zhongmei, 2001)—The path that Stanley Ho has taken in these 40 years is undoubtedly extremely tortuous and legendary, and has extraordinary achievements. Although as mentioned above, the reputation, status, connections and moral capital of the family (especially his grandfather Ho Dong) once supported Stanley Ho's rapid rise, the father's departure and the setbacks of family decline may be an extremely important factor in inspiring Stanley Ho's progress from a certain perspective. Therefore, some analysts pointed out that Stanley Ho’s father’s misfortune may be a true reflection of the loss of his horse and the misfortune.
From this perspective, when the family is in adversity and difficulties, if it can turn sadness and hardship into strength, inspire children's fighting spirit, and make positive and positive efforts, it is difficult to ensure that it will not turn weak into strong. Stanley Ho brings rejuvenation to the family and exhale, which is a good explanation.
Stanley Ho's centenary life and family legend (Chinese)
One wife and three concubines 6 sons 11 The inheritance of women
In the 1980s and 1990s, Hong Kong, Macao and Stanley Ho's family both experienced tremendous development and changes. During this period, crises, challenges and opportunities were reproductive and overlapping. Being able to handle them is often the key to victory or defeat.
Text / Zheng Hongtai Gao Hao
The inheritance of Chinese family enterprises has attracted much attention for a long time. Stanley Ho, who has gone from poverty to wealth and has a great family and a great career, is naturally no exception. According to data, as early as the late 1970s, when reform and opening up had just begun and Stanley Ho was about to enter the age of 70s, Stanley Ho began to be asked by reporters about how to arrange the inheritance and succession. He responded at that time, hoping to retire after 55 years of age (South China Morning Post, February 13, 1989).
As for the question about how to arrange succession, his answer is like many wealthy parents, especially showing an open-minded and selfless side. He once said this:
I am Chinese, and I have the idea of continuing the family line! However, doing business may not be necessary. I absolutely do not believe that the way of passing on fathers and sons is no longer in line with the trend. There are already two business of father-born sons in Hong Kong that has been done (finished)! Although I value my son, when I divide the property, my son will be divided into two parts and my daughter will also have one. Not considered biased! (He Wenxiang, 1992)
Ho Hongshen bought the bronze statue of the Marian horse head in the Old Summer Palace in 2007 and donated it to the country.
Stanley Ho also said in an interview on other occasions that "he does not believe in passing on the career from generation to generation." Instead, he believed that "more than 4,000 people are working for us and relying on us, and we have the responsibility to choose the most talented person to manage the career" (Le Wenshuo, 1978). This response has been deeply appreciated by many people, and they believe that only by doing so can we better promote the development of family businesses and become a force for social progress.
The following are examples of related comments:
Now (around 1978, when Stanley Ho was about 57 years old) he already thought about retirement. Maybe he would retire four years later (that is, after the age of 60), but retirement is not easy. He would feel uncomfortable if he didn't work for a few days. He loves work, and this cannot be denied, but retirement is inevitable. He actually had Chinese blood in his body, and his westernized mind always retained a little traditional thought (for example, he opposed women's intervention in men's business, original note). Then, the previous paragraph about career inheritance is a bit confusing. We often see news about "Ho Ying-Tong and his son" in newspapers, but it is rare to mention Stanley Ho and his son. Ho is not without children. If he can really get rid of the tradition of a big businessman in Hong Kong (for whatever reason, the original note) and hand over his career to the most talented person, it would be considered unique. (Le Wen gave away, 1978)
However, in hindsight, the observations and comments in the market at that time were obviously too early. They may not have a deep understanding of the age and internal relationships of Stanley Ho's children, but just because they did not see their children joining the company to participate in management, and he himself said "I do not believe in the way father and son passed on", and he wishfully thought that he really would not pass on father and son. In fact, if we turn our attention to things outside the spotlight, especially the relationship between family and relatives, it is not difficult to understand that Stanley Ho's actual actions and what he said publicly at that time were actually not consistent.
Imported child imports, family relationships are becoming more and more complex
The reality is that no inheritance arrangement can be viewed from the surface, let alone from the teaching side. Because inheritance is a multi-party interactive process that will affect the relationships and emotions of different members of the entire family. As for Stanley Ho, whose career and wealth are rising, he is obviously facing the growing family and the increasingly entangled and complex family relationships.
Stanley Ho and his wife, Lai Wanhua, have one son and three daughters, and they are also considered to be a child in modern society. But for Stanley Ho, who was born in a large family since childhood and had a very traditional value concept, it is obviously not enough to have only one offspring. Especially the gambling industry he is engaged in has always been notorious and is often accused of being addicted to people, causing serious problems to society and family, and even causing resentment from many people. Not to mention that the operation method of large amounts of cash flow often leads to the covetousness of black and white. The world is dangerous. If you are not careful, you may fall into danger. Stanley Ho naturally hopes to have more sons to avoid breaking his heirs.
Han Ho and Lai Wanhua
According to Stanley Ho in an interview with Wong, ten years after she married Stanley Ho (i.e. around 1953), she "suddenly contracted a strange disease". Even if she hired famous Chinese and foreign doctors to treat her, she could not cure her. Her body became thinner and thinner and "needed special care" (Wang Wang, 1981). The strange disease that Li Wanhua suffered not only made her disappear and could not accompany Stanley Ho to attend social occasions, but also affected their marriage life, and of course it also included the issue of inheriting the family line. Li Wanhua's fate has also become bumpy since then.
In 1957, Stanley Ho made a request to take a concubine to Li Wanhua. Because Hong Kong and Macao were still using the "Qing Laws" at that time, men with ability could take concubines, and Stanley Ho's grandfather, grand uncle, and other grand uncle were also monogamous and multiple concubines. He said this:
I don’t love him, I still love him very much, but even if I love him, I can’t be a monk for the rest of my life. And sometimes there are so many social engagements, including men and women, so I am alone all day long, which is not good.
Li Wanhua certainly expressed opposition, but she was sick and her husband became stronger and stronger. In the end, she could only accept it with all kinds of sweet words and promises. The woman she liked by Stanley Ho was Lan Qiongying (He Wenxiang, 1992; Leng Xia, 1994).
Stanley Ho and his second wife Lan Qiongying
It is said that Lan Qiongying was born in 1943 (22 years apart from Stanley Ho), and was only about 14 years old when she was taken as her concubine by Stanley Ho in 1957. Regarding Lan Qiongying's age, appearance and personality, Stanley Ho himself said in a timely manner: "She married me very early... She is beautiful and treats me very well!" (Huang Zhen, 1981). After passing by, Lan Qiongying lives in the Jardine Hill Mansion in Hong Kong and is separated from Lai Wanhua. In 1962, Lai Wanhua gave birth to another daughter for Stanley Ho, and He Chaoxiong. In the same year, Lan Qiongying also gave birth to a daughter for , He Chaoqiong, . After that, Li Wanhua did not have children again, and Lan Qiongying gave birth to He Chaofeng , He Chaoliu , He Chaoyi and He Yaolong ("Daily Headlines", December 31, 2017), and had a total of one son and four daughters. With more population and complicated family relationships, only one male student, He Youlong, was born in 1976. This obviously failed to satisfy Stanley Ho's desire to have more sons - even though he praised Lai Wanhua and Lan Qiongying and always "love" (Huang Zhen, 1981).
Ho Hongshen, his second wife, Lan Qiongying, and the third daughter, He Chaoqiong (right), He Chaofeng (middle in the back row), and He Chaonu (left in the back row).
In the 1980s, the investment environment in Hong Kong changed, and many professionals or companies moved out one after another. In addition to transferring some of his business investment to Europe and the United States (Ko, 1988; South China Morning Post, 1989), allowing his family to obtain foreign residence is also an important preparation. Stanley Ho naturally transferred part of his investment to Portugal. In addition to purchasing a mansion in Lisbon, he also transferred a lot of funds to the country. He also sent his eldest son, He Youguang, who was the department manager of Xinde Enterprise at that time and began to take over the business, to the local area to further develop the business. In 1981, He Youguang and his wife died in an accident while traveling in Lisbon. The couple were both 33 years old at the time, leaving behind a young daughter who was only 3 and 5 years old (South China Morning Post, 1981). This accident not only brought a blow to Stanley Ho, but also affected his inheritance and succession plan, but also caused great harm to Lai Wanhua, who has always been weak and sick. Li Wanhua, who has been in a depressed mood since Stanley Ho took a concubine, originally hoped that her son would be able to "son for his mother" in the future. He Youguang's sudden death undoubtedly shattered her hopes and was very sad.
He Youguang and his wife
As well-behaved, He Chaoying, the sister who has a deep relationship with He Youguang, should also be He Chaoying. Born in 1946, He Chaoying, two years older than He Youguang, studied in the UK and Switzerland when he was young. After returning to Hong Kong, he married Xiao Ming, the son of Hong Kong's "King of the King of the Little Arts", in 1975. This marriage was regarded as a "strong union" and was invincible.Unfortunately, the marriage lasted for a short time and she divorced due to an extramarital affair in her husband (Walker, 1986). Her younger brother died in a car accident at this time. Under the double blow, He Chaoying was extremely depressed, and even said that she was mentally ill. Later, she left Hong Kong with her daughter (Xiao Wenzheng), who was less than 3 years old, and began a travel-style life in various parts of Europe such as Portugal, which lasted for more than ten years. In the minds of many people, this kind of life may be very romantic, but it can also be said to be wandering around and living without a fixed place ("Daily Headlines", October 13, 2017). While experiencing the pain of losing her son, Li Wanhua also witnessed her eldest daughter getting divorced, her emotions lost, and her life fell into a trough, so her health was getting worse day by day.
On the other hand, Lan Qiongying's life has also undergone major changes. Under the instruction or arrangement of Stanley Ho, Lan Qiongying immigrated to Canada in the mid-1980s with her children, and bought a luxury house as a residence on Highpoint Road in Toronto. Her young children went to school in Canada (Wong, 1990).
Because of immigration, Stanley Ho and Lan Qiongying mostly have to separate from each other, which laid the groundwork for another major change in family relations. Or it can be said that when Lan Qiongying immigrated to Canada, Stanley Ho was nearly 65 years old. Whether it was Lai Wanhua or Lan Qiongying, they could not have thought that Stanley Ho would still have the idea of finding a concubine and a female companion again. However, Stanley Ho remained romantic and unchanged in personality. Not only did he make a third spring, but he also had a fourth spring, which was beyond their expectations.
Stanley Ho, his third wife, Chen Wanzhen, and a son (He Youqi) and two daughters (He Chaoyun and He Chaolian).
It turned out that Stanley Ho fell in love with Chen Wanzhen, the private caretaker around Li Wanhua. At that time, Chen Wanzhen, born in 1954, was over 30 years old. At the beginning, the relationship between Stanley Ho and Chen Wanzhen was not exposed, but it was in the end. Stanley Ho disclosed his relationship in the late 1980s and confirmed the position of Chen Wanzhen's third concubine. Chen Wanzhen gave birth to a son for Stanley Ho (Ho Youqi) and two daughters (Ho Chaoyun and He Chaolian), which further prospered the family. However, the number of sons who were thinking about here was only increased from one to two.
Even though he is nearly 70 years old, Stanley Ho is still energetic, and of course he is full of male charm, wealthy financial resources and "power" in society. In the late 1980s, he started another relationship with Liang Anqi , born in 1961, and publicly announced his fourth concubine in 1989. Angela Leong later gave birth to three sons for Stanley Ho ( Ho Youheng , Ho Youjun , and Ho Youjia) and two daughters ( Ho Chaoying , and Ho Chaoxin ). This time, he has fulfilled his wish to have more sons.
Stanley Ho, the fourth wife, Angela Leong and her children,
If the eldest daughter born in 1946 and the young daughter born in 2000, their age difference is 54 years, which is undoubtedly an extremely rare phenomenon in the millennial century. In such a big family with a monogamous wife, three concubines, six sons and 11 daughters, and a huge age difference, family relationships and entanglements will inevitably become more complicated and difficult to resolve ("Daily Headlines", December 31, 2017; September 20, 2018).
It can be clearly seen that when ordinary people expect Stanley Ho to retire and enter the important stage of inheritance and succession, his eldest son suddenly died unfortunately, and his marriage and family structure changed dramatically. He successively accepted three concubines and gave birth to more than 10 children. The sons are young, the daughters are older, and the concubines are younger, and some are very interested in running a business. Various factors directly or indirectly affect the arrangement of inheriting and taking over the class, which makes Stanley Ho need to spend more effort. The subsequent return of Hong Kong and Macau, China's rise, and globalization trends also influenced his overall plan on business development and inheritance.
The family business map continues to expand, and Josie Ho has taken the pace of succession
When Hong Kong and Macau enter the transition period of return, the structure and relationship of the Stanley Ho family have undergone major changes, and the various businesses controlled by the family have also developed significantly, and even continued to expand.Even though Stanley Ho was still healthy at this time, and his personal status and social reputation were particularly prominent, his social engagements and business were heavy and he had no time to be a clone, which prompted him to earnestly implement the inheritance and succession plan. At that time, the eldest daughter He Chaoying, born to Lai Wanhua, had serious mental problems due to the breakdown of her marriage and moved overseas. He Chaoxiong and He Chaoxian were not interested in joining the family business. In addition, Lai Wanhua was not healthy and could not fight for her daughters or make any long-term arrangements, so she did not see her daughter born to Lai Wanhua participate in the family business. At this time, Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi's children were still young, and Stanley Ho chose the daughter Ho Chiu-qiong, born to Lan Qiongying, as the successor, and began to make substantial preparations for the handover between corporate leaders and management.
Let’s talk about the major developments in corporate business first. Despite the large number of right and wrong, the business income of Macau's gambling industry is stable and profitable. In the 1980s, "Macau Entertainment" was still holding on to the franchise, and no one could challenge it. Stanley Ho still wore the crown of "King of Gambling" on his head. Because the business is a franchise and does not have enough challengers, there are not many innovations or developments in business, and to some extent, even a situation of self-satisfaction has occurred. It was not until Macau’s return and the gambling industry opened up that there was a major change in transformation (Zheng and Wan, 2014).
The other flagship of the family’s business is Xinde Enterprise. Since its listing in 1972, the company has performed outstandingly in other times except for the severe economic recession period in Hong Kong from 1973 to 1975. In the late 1970s, the company acquired the land for the Hong Kong and Macao terminal and spent huge amounts of money to build the company's signature commercial building - Xinde Center . After continuous construction, by 1986, the Sindhi Center, which is more than 40 floors high, was finally completed and put into use, becoming a dazzling landmark building on Hong Kong Island. Since the center is located at the Hong Kong-Macao Wharf and MTR Station, and is at the tunnel exit, and the transportation is well connected, the price has risen sharply after the center is completed, bringing considerable income to the company. Xinde Enterprise also became the best-performing listed company in 1987 (Winn, 1987), pushing the company's development to another important level.
Sinde Enterprise also became the best-performing listed company in 1987 (Winn, 1987), pushing the company's development to another important level. (Sinde Center under the setting sun.)
While Situation Enterprises are rising steadily, the Macau Electric Power Company, which Stanley Ho had already been involved in in his early years, also had important changes in the 1980s. Founded in 1910, Macao Electric Lighting Co. Ltd., Melco, is the main business of providing electricity to Macau, but its headquarters is located in Hong Kong. The main investors also come from families with investment and business in Hong Kong and Macau. The company's shares were traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as early as the 1920s. By 1972, the company was reorganized and some of its power businesses were transferred back to Macau. Other businesses such as catering, tourism and real estate continued to stay in Hong Kong and maintained their identity as a listed company. Stanley Ho also became a major shareholder. By the 1980s, the company was renamed "Melco International Development" and cooperated with Sindhi Enterprises to jointly develop real estate in Mid-mountain Hong Kong Island and build luxury houses. With the continued rise in the real estate market, its performance was very good (South China Morning Post, September 26, 1989).
Also in the 1980s, Stanley Ho, who seemed to be getting older and more aggressive, was involved in industrial production and participated in Semi-Tech Microelectronics, founded in Canada by Ding Wei, a company that was originally engaged in semiconductor and chip manufacturing. The company was reorganized into Semi-Tech Global in 1986 and was listed in Canada. The following year, the company was listed in Hong Kong, China, and Stanley Ho acquired a stake and became the chairman of the company. Later, Shanmei Global acquired Singer Sewing Machine Co, a famous American sewing machine brand, which caused a sensation in the financial circles of China and abroad (Apple Daily, November 25, 2012).
It was like this that the overloaded workload of Stanley Ho began to arrange for his daughter Ho to take over.Born in 1962, He Chaoqiong, who graduated from Santa Clara University in the United States, first worked in an investment bank, and then joined Shanmei Electronics as a director. He was also responsible for managing all the company business of his mother Lan Qiongying and accumulating work experience. Around 1987, He Chaoqiong was arranged by his father to work in Xinde Enterprise and reached a new level of inheritance and succession (South China Morning Post, February 5, 1989).
According to Ho Chaoqiong's personal self-modest statement, as the "daughter of billionaire", even though she has not made any achievements in her job, she has attracted much attention from the media, which makes her flattered (South China Morning Post, February 5, 1989). However, Josie Ho should also be happy to become the darling of the media. She is keen on participating in fundraising events, dance parties or movie premieres and other social events. She is also happy to respond when media and reporters visit, which shows that she is also interested in establishing her public image (South China Morning Post, September 22, 1989).
He Chaoqiong and famous singer Danny Chan attended the event.
In the 1990s, Hong Kong and Macao entered a post-transition period. Due to poor social security in Macau, the tourism and gambling industry has greatly affected the economy and the economy is sluggish. The "Australia Entertainment" business, which still holds gambling franchise, is not very good, and its revenue is reduced (Zheng and Wan, 2014). Relatively speaking, Hong Kong's society is stable and its economy is quite hot. Xinde Enterprises and many Chinese-funded enterprises adhere to the consistent purpose of "staying in Hong Kong and building the port" and have entered the post-transition period. Due to poor social security in Macau, it has greatly affected tourism investment and promoted Hong Kong's economic development. The most attractive move to market is to spend huge amounts of land in Ship Tong Tsui, Pok Fu Lin Road, Mid-Level, , Central and Western District, Hong Kong Island, and to build the famous real estate in Hong Kong Island, Bao Cuiyuan, with Sun Hung Kai Properties and New World (11.950, 0.02, 0.17%), etc. The project will become a landmark private housing estate in the district, bringing huge profits to the company.
Melco International Development also had many major developments in the 1990s, the most prominent of which was that in 1993, Xinde Enterprises adopted it as a subsidiary through further capital injection (South China Morning Post, September 22, 1993), allowing the two companies to play a better synergy effect. With such a strong capital backend, Melco International Development acquired Aberdeen Catering Enterprises Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries, and obtained the rights to operate two important restaurants in Aberdeen - Zhenbao Seafood Boat and Taibai Seafood Boat. By 1996, Melco International Development carried out business and investment restructuring, and finally adopted the method of exchange for controlling rights, and reached an agreement with Xinde Enterprise that the holdings were not affiliated with each other (South China Morning Post, February 10, 1996). From then on, Melco International Development was no longer a subsidiary of Xinde Enterprise, but embarked on the road of independent operation, but the major shareholder was still the Stanley Ho family.
When Xinde and Melco investing frequently, Stanley Ho served as chairman, but the management power was in the hands of Ding Wei, Shanmei Global, which was in the hands of Ding Wei, was fighting and constantly expanding its business territory. In 1991, Shanmei Global split its Shengjia sewing machine manufacturing business and listed it on the New York Stock Exchange, greatly increasing the company's asset value. At the same time, Shanmei Global also used its mutual holdings with Shengjia sewing machine to acquire German Pfaff Industries and Japanese Sansui Electric, which caused a sensation in the international investment market. Stanley Ho and his partner Ding Wei also entered the top ten in the Hong Kong rich rankings. In 1999, Shanmei Global was renamed Akai Holdings Ltd, but at that time the company was in danger due to its rapid expansion, excessive borrowing, and the sudden outbreak of the "Asian financial crisis" (Apple Daily, November 25, 2012).
Xu Jinheng and He Chaoqiong at the wedding
In fact, for He Chaoqiong, the 1990s was also an important stage of her life after taking the pace of succession and learning in different business development and management. In mid-1990, Ho Chaoqiong announced his engagement with Xu Jinheng, the grandson of the "patriotic ship king" Xu Aizhou (South China Morning Post, June 3, 1990), and got married and held a drink in January 1991.The wedding banquet was held at the Hyatt Hotel for three consecutive days. Celebrities from Guangdong, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan and relatives and friends from abroad came to congratulate each other. The number reached more than 2,000, which was extremely luxurious (Sing Tao Daily, January 9, 1991). After marriage, Ho Chaoqiong did not stay at home or had children soon. Instead, after a short period of suspension of work, he re-entered his career in 1994 (South China Morning Post, September 4, 1994), and continued to follow the path of taking over the heavy burden of his father's business. Of course, he also performed many outstandingly during this period.
There is no doubt that Hong Kong, Macao and Stanley Ho's family both experienced tremendous development and changes in the 1980s and 1990s. During this period, crises, challenges and opportunities were reproductive and overlapping. Being able to handle them is often the key to victory or defeat. Similar to the transition period for Hong Kong and Macao entering the return, the companies controlled by the Stanley Ho family have also entered the handover period for leadership. At that time, Stanley Ho had already "crossed six and seven" (that is, he was over 60 and entered 70 years old). Generally speaking, it was time to inherit the class. However, whether it is health, business, marriage or family life, Stanley Ho is getting more and more exciting. Not only does his personal wealth continue to rise, but his family size continues to grow. Although the successor He Chaoqiong, whom he personally arranged, has taken the step of taking over, the power is still in the hands of Stanley Ho.
A young son is an adult New deployment in his 80s
After the end of World War II, human society not only showed relatively lasting peace, but also caused a sharp increase in the rate of infant death, especially the improvement of medical and health care levels, which saw a sharp decline in infant death rate and a significant increase in the average life expectancy. The wealthy family can enjoy a longer life than ordinary people because they can enjoy a better material life, better health care and medical conditions. For the companies they control, under their long-term leadership, many of them can achieve better development due to their accumulation of experience, connections and social capital support, creating family legends.
The longevity of the rich does bring benefits to inheriting and succession. If you have more time to train successors and encounter sudden changes, you can also come forward to stabilize the overall situation. However, everything has its advantages and disadvantages. Entrepreneurs will also bring many challenges and problems to the company for a long time, as is the case with Stanley Ho. For example, the sudden death of He Youguang, the successor he chose, changed the original inheritance arrangement. Fortunately, he was still healthy at that time and could stabilize the overall situation before preparing for it. But when he was old, he was still energetic and was unwilling to be lonely to take his concubine again. As a result, not only were the concubines far apart from his age, but the children born were also very far apart from their brothers and sisters in terms of age, and were half-brothers. Naturally, it greatly changed the family structure and relationship, making inheritance issues more entangled and complicated, and prone to breeding various interlocking contradictions, planting more seeds of instability and even disputes.
After entering the new millennium century, on the one hand, there were major changes in the economic environment of Hong Kong and Macao, and on the other hand, there were changes in family relations. What Stanley Ho faced was a situation where crises, challenges and opportunities accompanied by opportunities, which made him unable to stop. At the end of the 20th century, Hong Kong and Macao returned to the embrace of their motherland one after another. At the same time, the Asian financial crisis hit the business and economy of Hong Kong and Macao. Therefore, Stanley Ho, who has business investments throughout Hong Kong and Macao, needs to make various responses and plans. On the other hand, some young children have grown up, prompting him to seriously think about the issue of inheritance and succession.
Inheritance and formation
In early 2000, Ho Chaoqiong and Xu Jinheng, who were generally regarded as the main heir, fell into the trap. Although the two ended up divorced, goodbye was also a friend. The friendly relationship between the Xu and He families remained unchanged ("Memoirs of Ten Girls: Confrontation with the Devil", 2007). Since then, Ho Chaoqiong once fell in love with the son of Yang Shoucheng, chairman of Hong Kong Emperor Group, and even talked about marriage for a while, but because of Stanley Ho's opposition and various other factors, he ended up in vain. Since then, Ho Chaoqiong has been devoted to his career and focused on managing his family's enterprises (South China Morning Post, December 8, 2000; Sing Tao Daily, December 14, 2000).
At the same time, Lan Qiongying's youngest son, Youlong, graduated from the University of Toronto Business School in Canada. He worked in an investment banking period like his sister, Josie Ho, to learn about the operation of international financial capital.Later, he was involved in the precarious Internet business, but the Internet bubble burst soon after. Although He Youlong suffered losses, he learned a lot of experience. At the end of 2000, the 24-year-old Ho Yaulong married Luo Xiuyin (daughter of Luo Youli), the granddaughter of Vita milk founder, Luo Guixiang, as his wife. This marriage was also a "strong union". At that time, Stanley Ho was nearly 80 years old and felt very "comfortable" (Sing Tao Daily, November 17, 2000).
He Youlong and his wife Luo Xiuyin
Another noticeable phenomenon in this wedding was that Xu Jinheng had come to help and came to congratulate with his parents, which shows that the relationship between the Xu He and the two families was not affected by the end of their marriage between Xu Jinheng and He Chaoqiong (Oriental Daily, November 17, 2000).
Hao Yeung has been internships in an outside company for a period of time—and he has also had working experience and entrepreneurial experience. In addition, he has already started a family business, so it is natural for Heo Yeung to prepare to enter a family business and start a successor. In 2001, Lawrence Ho was appointed as the managing director of Melco International Development by Stanley Ho. He started to manage a not-so-large company and learn how to plan the business.
Unlike many "rich second generations", Lawrence Ho is quite low-key and humble, attaches importance to hard work, and does not get involved in the play habits of many rich children. Instead, he spends a lot of time studying business and business, so he can make some achievements after taking over the development of Melco International, which makes Stanley Ho, who has seen countless people, appreciates it very much and is more willing to entrust more work. From then on, Stanley Ho's inheritance and succession arrangements began to have more practical and diverse arrangements: both the development of Ho Chaoqiong and the following up by Ho Yau Long.
Of course, other children and concubines often seek opportunities in front of Stanley Ho, and he will also be included in the scope of consideration. Chinese entrepreneurs always have this trait. Different families (including some credible people) will make different investment suggestions to them and strive for support. When they can do their best and feel that their families have certain business potential after evaluating, they generally do not flatly refuse, but are willing to give some investment or encouragement to let them try.
Deployment of the New Millennium Century
For Macau, the most important challenge and opportunity to enter the New Millennium Century is undoubtedly a huge change in the gambling industry franchise. After the establishment of the Macao Special Administrative Region, the country stationed troops in Macau, which was extremely deterrent to Macau, which was plagued by evil forces in the past. The public security problem is solved so that the SAR government can concentrate on developing the economy, and the major breakthrough point is to propose policies to introduce competition and open the gambling industry. On the surface, this major policy adjustment was extremely unfavorable to Stanley Ho's business, so he expressed his opposition, but the gambling industry was finally opened, and the gambling operating license increased from one to three. These three licenses are divided into chief and deputy license plates, and chief and deputy license plates have almost the same operating rights, which also means that the number of license plates has increased from one to six, and the opening range is really quite large.
Macau Gaming Entertainment Co., Ltd. (referred to as "SJM" and SJM) led by Stanley Ho - a subsidiary of "SJM" - obtained one of the authentic brands, while the other two authentic brands were controlled by the Lui Che-ho family, and the "Wynn Resorts Macao" of American tycoon Stephen Wynn (" Macau Daily ", February 9, 2002). Later, GEG applied to the government to release a deck to the Venetian Macao and obtained approval. This move made Stanley Ho, who was sharp-eyed, take action immediately and apply for two sub-card cards with Wynn Holiday Leisure, thus having "MGM Grand Paradise" (co-operated by MGM Group and "Macau Entertainment") and Melco PBL Jogos Macau (a subsidiary of Melco International Development). MGM Golden Palace is governed by Ho Chaoqiong, while Macau New York is managed by Lawrence Ho, who has just debuted (McCartney, 2006). In other words, the original three-legged squad became a situation where Stanley Ho “topped the sky” again, and Stanley Ho’s business tentacles and personal network are evident.To put it another way, if Stanley Ho was not in power, in that era of major changes and fierce competition, it would be difficult for him to not have been the same as in the 1960s. After Fu Laorong's death, his family would not have been able to obtain the gambling industry franchise again, and he would have withdrawn from the stage of Macau's gambling industry.
For this major change, many people predict that the gambling industry will inevitably decline under the influence of "more monks and less porridge". However, the actual development situation is really as some economic theories say. Under the stimulation of competition, competitors show their strengths to attract consumption, stimulate innovation and vitality, and make business more prosperous. Of course, mainland China has further relaxed the outbound travel of Chinese people, especially in 2003, the personal travel policy commonly known as "free travel" was introduced, which also injected extremely important development power into Macau's gaming industry. China and Macau's economy quickly emerged from the trough of recession before the return, and the wealth of the Stanley Ho family also soared further. Within a few years, Macau surpassed Las Vegas, the United States, which has always been the world's number one gambling industry. Macau's employment, people's livelihood, infrastructure, etc. have also achieved continuous improvements, and its per capita GDP has even surpassed Hong Kong (Zheng and Wan, 2014).
The fluctuations in Hong Kong's performance
Back to Hong Kong's business. Compared with Macau, after entering the millennium century, Hong Kong's economy has fallen sharply due to the impact of the "Asian financial crisis", and the business and investment of the Stanley Ho family have also been affected, including Yajia Holdings, which participated in and served as chairman - although the company is the CEO and major shareholder Ding Wei. According to data, Ding Wei's series of radical acquisitions and investments at the end of the 20th century, the asset value has skyrocketed, resulting in debt defaults due to the sharp rise in interest rates and credit tightening under the "Asian Financial Crisis" - the reversal of the market environment.
In hindsight, Ding Wei should have conducted a "false account transaction" in which the defendant later took to court in this environment, injecting liquidity into his company, but in the end the capital chain broke and a series of ships burned. As a result, the police investigated and exposed a series of "false account" incidents. Ding Wei was finally convicted of forging accounts and was imprisoned for six years. Although Stanley Ho was not directly involved, because he invested in it and was the chairman of the group, he would suffer a certain amount of money loss and his reputation was also tarnished. Fortunately, he took various methods to quickly cut off the relationship and kept it alone, and did not suffer much impact (Apple Daily, November 25, 2012).
As the flagship enterprise of the Stanley Ho family, after entering the millennium century, Xinde Enterprise encountered the impact of the rapid decline in Hong Kong's economy caused by the "Asian financial crisis". At that time, the company's main businesses - property real estate, shipping transportation, hotel and catering, tourism and entertainment - fell sharply. In 2003, Hong Kong was hit by the SARS, causing economic and social sentiment to the bottom, and the business of Xinde Enterprises plummeted. In late 2003, the central government of launched the "Individual Tour of Mainland Residents to Hong Kong and Macao" policy, which not only allowed Macau's gambling industry to rise rapidly, but also made all walks of life in Hong Kong have also gained great vitality. The various businesses of Xinde Enterprises also rebounded significantly. For example, the newly completed Kowloon Shengyueju real estate was sold out in a huge profit, bringing the company huge profits. Stanley Ho's chat and laughter when attending events on different occasions can be said to be the most powerful illustration of the company's re-entry journey on the road to prosperity.
Sinde Enterprise is an influential listed company in Hong Kong, we will summarize its performance development since Hong Kong's return. First of all, in terms of net asset value, the company has actually always had outstanding development, from about 5 billion yuan in 1996 to nearly 35 billion yuan in 2017, and its performance in 20 years has been very impressive. Except for 2008 and 2014-2016, the number of which achieved good growth in other years (Figure 2).
Of course, if you look closely at the turnover of Xinde Enterprise, it is not difficult to see the ups and downs and fluctuations between 1996 and 2017 (Figure 3), which also reflects the ups and downs of Hong Kong's economy and society during this period.
For example, from 1996 to 1997, business performance was affected by the "Asian financial crisis"; from 2001 to 2006, it was affected by the long-term economic recession of Hong Kong; as for the ups and downs after 2006, it was driven by the economic recovery; the huge fluctuations after 2009 were affected by the health problems of Stanley Ho and the conflicts within the family, which attracted the most attention of investors.
Figure 4 is the profit performance of Xinde Group before and after taxation. We can clearly see that between 1996 and 2007, the slow growth of corporate profits shows that their profit performance is not outstanding; it once fell in 2008. In the following 10 years, although the profit amount was higher than in the past, it fluctuated greatly and the situation was very unique, which is worthy of in-depth understanding in the future. It can be said that since Hong Kong's return, although the net asset value of Xinde Group has been increasing, its turnover and profit have fluctuated greatly, especially since Stanley Ho's health has worsened and unable to act freely, the situation is of concern, and this also shows that the company has many unstable factors.
Just as the business of Ho Hong Kong and Macao continues to develop and the family’s wealth continues to rise, the death of Yuan Pei’s wife Lai Wanhua further evolved the complex internal relationship of the family. How the family separates and analyzes the products and how the company develops smoothly, please stay tuned for the next issue.
Stanley Ho's 100-year-old life and family legend (Part 2)
Silent the storm of strife
The accidental death of his eldest son prompted Stanley Ho to change his own way and continue to lead the company. At the same time, he promoted the second and three children of the second and third houses. During this period, it took about 40 years to truly complete the entire inheritance and succession process. The time is evident.
Text/Zheng Hongtai Gao Hao
So far, it is rare for rich and powerful people to live a hundred years old, and Stanley Ho is undoubtedly one of the rare cases. What's more special is that his life witnessed the family's decline from prosperity to decline and then towards revival. Although his family is actually a mixed-race group, the continuity of his family not only reveals and demonstrates Chinese traditional culture and values, but also represents the modernization. This can also reveal the connotation and characteristics of Chinese culture: it is prioritized to continuate bloodlines, and also pays attention to glorifying the family, emphasizing the protection of the family, filial piety to parents, and protecting descendants.
Of course, this kind of hard work that goes all out for the interests and glory of one's own family has its limitations and will also cause many problems. This is clearly reflected in the various encounters of Stanley Ho's 100-year-old life - constant right and wrong, and I have passed by death many times, and even been involved in countless disputes. It is not difficult to make people feel that as a microcosm of the nation and society, the family reflects the brilliant and outstanding brilliance of its culture, and it also has disadvantages. It is indeed necessary to examine and reflect on the best and abandon the worst, so that the family can move towards a prosperous road.
Yuan Pei died, and the families fought each other
On February 21, 2004, Yuan Pei’s wife, Lai Wanhua, who had been with Stanley Ho for a long time, finally lost to the disease and died at the age of 82. Stanley Ho was very sad and buried Li Wanhua in a grand manner. At the funeral held at the Catholic Church in Macau, many high-ranking officials attended and expressed their condolences. Stanley Ho’s three concubines did not attend, but only sent their children to express their condolences as representatives.
After the funeral, Lai Wanhua was buried in the Holy Weiji Cemetery (also known as the Old Western Cemetery) on the island of Macau. It is a location with excellent feng shui, and is adjacent to prominent figures in Macau (Sing Tao Daily, February 29, 2004). Since Stanley Ho is not a Catholic, it is almost certain that he will not be buried there in a hundred years, which shows that his last destination should not be with Lai Wanhua.
The death of Li Wanhua means that the first wife (the main wife) has a lack of status, which prompted the second wife Lan Qiongying to fight for Stanley Ho to become the second wife and establish her status as a wife. Lan Qiongying got what she wanted, and was recognized by Stanley Ho, and her status was more stable, which further strengthened the inheritance rights of the children born to Lan Qiongying. But this affected the original "balance of power", causing responses and counterattacks from Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi, and prompting conflicts and differences that had not yet surfaced to emerge quickly.
Because the children born by Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi are still young and are still studying, as mothers, they adopted the strategy of "fighting for their children" - that is, as mothers, they strive for more property and business management rights, and protect the "rights and interests" of their children, Liang Anqi is particularly decisive and enterprising. According to data, Angel Leong has been involved in social affairs in Hong Kong and Macao in high profile since 2004. For example, in 2004, she was appointed as a member of the Election Committee of the Second and Third Chief Executives of the Macao Special Administrative Region; in 2005, she participated in the competition for seats of the Legislative Council of Macau, and won a seat in one blow, and then was re-elected for three consecutive terms. She has also been appointed as Prime Minister of the Hong Kong Polytechnic Bureau (Hong Kong Polytechnic Bureau is a famous charity in Hong Kong, established in 1878 - Editor's note), and has made great contributions ("Director of the Polytechnic Bureau", 2009).
In terms of business, as early as the 1990s, Liang Anqi had directly participated in business operations and was involved in food, entertainment, securities, property and other industries. In 2007, she made a major investment - spending huge sums of money to acquire 20% of the equity of "wireless paid TV" under Hong Kong TV Broadcasting Co., Ltd., becoming a major strategic shareholder, and entering the media industry (Xinbao, August 31, 2007). In addition, like many wives of wealthy families in Hong Kong, Angela Leong spent money to purchase high-quality properties at different times as long-term investments, such as the Mansion at No. 4 Repulse Bay Road, Hong Kong Island, Central Entertainment Building, 88 Xingfa Street, Causeway Bay, etc. ("Sudden Week", February 27, 2004). Of course, each investment may not be wholly owned by her, but it reflects an indisputable fact that she has a huge source of funds, allowing her to continuously increase her capital investment and continue to rise in wealth.
Compared with Anqi Liang, Chen Wanzhen is undoubtedly relatively low-key. The latter has not been involved in politics and has not participated in public office or Legislative Council elections. But Chen Wanzhen also served as the ambassador of the Hong Kong Seedling Fund since 2005 (Hong Kong Seedling Fund was established in 1998 and is an editor-in-chief for Hong Kong charity). In 2006, Chen Wanzhen was elected as the Prime Minister of the Third Hospital of Donghua University. At the same time, she also participated in the charity work of the Hong Kong Cancer Prevention Association and made many donations. Whenever she appeared, it naturally became the focus of the spotlight.
In terms of business investment, Chen Wanzhen also started her own business as early as the 1990s, mainly including restaurants, antiques trading and investment. In 2004, Chen Wanzhen established Anwei Management Co., Ltd., mainly to centrally manage the investment in properties under her name including shops, residential buildings, parking spaces, etc., and the more well-known properties she holds include Shiao Anli Garden, Shanding Buli Diameter 5G Bungalow and Unit No. 11 Shoushan Road East ("Sudden Week", February 27, 2004). Although there is not as much information about her business investment and charity activities as Liang Anqi, I believe that she is relatively unwilling to disclose it, and her actual assets should be more than disclosed.
Because the number of children in each room - especially the number of sons - varies greatly, and the ages are very different, the stages and needs of life are also different. When Li Wanhua passed away in 2004, Lan Qiongying's first house had not only improved her status, but her children had already taken the lead in taking over. She firmly occupied an important position in the core business and naturally had an absolute advantage. This naturally made Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi's second house feel unfair and uneasy. But their children are still young after all, so they acted like "mother fights for their children". The reason they emphasized must be the saying that "the mother is weak and the son is young", which forced Stanley Ho to think about their two families - especially Liang Anqi has given birth to more sons. I believe this is the reason why Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi have been frequently moving since 2004.
A stroke fell ill, and the storm was about to come
Five years after Li Wanhua's death, on July 29, 2009, Stanley Ho, who was over 87 years old, suddenly had a stroke, which attracted attention (Apple Daily, August 13, 2009; East Weekly, August 22, 2009). At the beginning, all parties were concerned about Stanley Ho's condition, and even various rumors of his death appeared. However, as the condition stabilized, the family had various actions to compete for family property and corporate controlling rights, and the every move of this prominent family became the focus of the world's attention.
The doctor performed multiple surgeries on Stanley Ho to eliminate blood stasis in the brain, but half of the body lost consciousness requires long-term physical therapy. In order to enable Stanley Ho to recover better, at the doctor's advice, Stanley Ho stayed in the hospital for up to 7 months. He was discharged from the hospital in early March 2010 and was recuperating and conditioning in the No. 1 Repulse Bay mansion (Apple Daily, March 4, 2010).
Stanley Ho is no longer able to freely roam between Hong Kong, Macao and government and business as before, further changes in the family's relationship are inevitable. On January 24, 2011, newspapers from all over the country suddenly rushed to report a major news, saying that Stanley Ho is no longer the major shareholder of "Samboa", but only symbolically holds 100 shares. Lan Qiongying and her children, Chen Wanzhen and her children became the main beneficiaries of the 32% controlling stake that Stanley Ho originally held. In response, Stanley Ho immediately clarified through his lawyer, saying that he was "unaware of" the relevant arrangements, believing that it was "robbery", saying that he would take legal action against the relevant persons, and appealed to the Hong Kong Court on January 27 (South China Morning Post, January 25-28, 2011); Apple Daily, January 28, 2011).
On March 10, 2011, Stanley Ho signed and published a "joint statement" with his family, stating that the "Ho family incident" that has been widely reported in the past two months was finally "successfully resolved". The previous appeal was cancelled, "After friendly coordination and frank dialogue between all parties, the family members reached a consensus with mutual understanding and concession" and signed a "reconciliation agreement". Everyone agreed to work together to develop the Macau gaming business that Stanley Ho worked hard on, and "and carry forward it" (Ming Pao, March 11, 2011; South China Morning Post, March 11, 2011). At this point, a storm that originally made people feel like a storm seemed to be coming, but Stanley Ho could still take charge of the overall situation, seemed to be able to end.
In this property dispute, Yuan Pei Li Wanhua's house should have obtained more property and equity, but in fact it was the least divided. Most of the property and business fell into the hands of three concubines and their children ("Suddenly A Week", February 27, 2004). It can be said that Li Wanhua's children (commonly known as Changfang) have neither shared the controlling stake in the family business nor have other types of assets. According to Xiao Wenzheng, the daughter of Li Wanhua's eldest daughter, He Chaoying, the eldest house was only divided into No. 1 Repulse Bay Mansion with a market value of 1.6 billion yuan at the time ("One Weekly", February 12, 2015). The reason should be related to the fact that the eldest son has no male descendants: after Ho Youguang's death, he left two daughters, Ho Chaoying and Ho Chaoxian each had one daughter, and Ho Chaoxiong was not married, so Ho Hongshen only allocated some property to them in the form of a dowry.
Ho Chaoying, the eldest daughter, who returned to Hong Kong after Lai Wanhua's health deteriorated in her later years, has become worse and worse since her mother passed away. Due to lack of comprehensive care, He Chaoying died in Yanghe Hospital on December 4, 2014 at the age of 68 ("Daily Headlines", December 9, 2014). Stanley Ho should be very sad about this, because this is another time when he "great-haired man gives away a black-haired man." What is puzzling is that three years after He Chaoying's death, the cemetery in Zhaoyuan Cemetery was still only covered with canvas, and there was not even a tombstone, which was in a strong contrast with the situation of other tombs or family members. This is undoubtedly a footnote for the eldest daughter of a wealthy family with a wealthy family worth over 10 billion yuan. The eldest daughter is undoubtedly a footnote for the fact that the eldest child will not receive "fair" treatment after the separation, and even has a chilling feeling ("Daily Headlines", December 31, 2017).
Dividing family and different properties, each house shows its strengths
People often say that history is written by the winner, but family is not the same. After the 2011 family dispute was resolved, the eldest son was excluded because he had no bloodline. The concubines of the second, third and fourth rooms and the children they gave birth to became winners. After obtaining the benefits they thought they deserved and clearing their respective rights and responsibilities, they each set out on their own, devoted themselves to their own business, and proved their strength and talents through actions.
Let’s talk about Lan Qiongying’s room first.As the eldest daughter of the second wife, Ho Chaoqiong has participated in the management of Xinde Enterprise since the 1980s. After her father was older, she was entrusted with greater management rights. She also participated in the sub-cards added after the opening of Macau's gambling industry and became the main shareholder of MGM Jindian, leading the business development. After her father suffered a stroke, she naturally took on more leadership practices, which allowed her to play an important role in the family storm in 2011. After that, her leadership position was further determined, and although her performance fluctuated, the company's net asset value continued to rise steadily. In 2017, Stanley Ho announced his resignation as chairman of Xinde Group and was replaced by Chauqiong Ho, and he truly completed his succession.
Stanley Ho not only stepped down as chairman of Xinde Group in 2017, but also resigned the position of "SOC" chairman at the same time and handed over to He Chaofeng as the leader. Although He Chaofeng has never been as famous as He Chaoqiong, in fact, the life experiences of the two sisters are quite similar. He Chaofeng grew up in Hong Kong and graduated from the University of Southern California. Later, he obtained a master's degree in business administration from the University of Toronto, Canada. After returning to Hong Kong in the 1980s, he participated in different family business management. He joined Xinde Enterprise in the 1990s, and later participated in shipping, tourism, entertainment and property investment. At the same time, in the 1990s, Ho Chaofeng married Ho Zhijian, son of Hong Kong Malaysian owner Ho Shounan. It was also a marriage of "strong combination". After marriage, the two had two daughters Ho Siheng and Ho Qianheng. Unfortunately, their marriage hit a rock in 2016 and ended with divorce, and He Chaofeng was as devoted to her career as her sister He Chaoqiong. After Stanley Ho suffered a stroke, her division of labor with Chaoqiong Ho was clearer. She focused on hosting "SJM", while Chaoqiong Ho focused on managing the Sindhi Group.
Stanley Ho obviously pays more attention to the oldest son, Yau Long, who is the oldest among his sons. After joining Melco International Development in 2001, He was appointed as managing director, leading the practice. In 2002, Melco Macau Casino, a subsidiary of Melco International, obtained the deputy card of gambling franchise, and some people called Lawrence Ho the "little gambling king". In 2006, because he felt that Yeo Ho could stand alone, Stanley Ho resigned as chairman and was replaced by Stanley Ho, which further showed that Stanley Ho wanted his son to have a greater say. In operating the diverse business of Melco, Lawrence Ho clearly demonstrated his courage to innovate and unconventional style. As for his down-to-earth and personal actions, the company has achieved good development.
It can be said that since Stanley Ho announced his retirement in 2017, it marks the full handover of management power. Lan Qiongying's children have basically taken over the dominance of their father's flagship company and become the successor of the new generation of the family. This is related to their older age and early entry into the company. Looking back, Stanley Ho once said in an interview that he wanted to retire at the age of 55. At that time, his successor should be his eldest son, Ho Youguang. However, the eldest son's accidental death prompted him to change his mind and continue to lead the company himself, and at the same time promoted the second and third children. During this period, it took about 40 years to truly complete the entire inheritance and succession process, which shows how long it took. Fortunately, he lived a long life, so that he could resolve the vicious disputes among the family with extremely complex structures and relationships.
Compared with the children of Lan Qiongying's one family, the children of the other two houses Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi are relatively young. Due to the large age gap, they are basically unable to hand over with Stanley Ho. They can only hold shares or assets by their mothers to promote them to start their own businesses or open up other career paths. If they join Sindh, "Somall" or Melco, it will be difficult to fight for brothers and sisters who have already had great power too early, and conflicts will arise. According to the information, Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi have fought for huge amounts of property as their children's "agents" ("Sudden Week", February 27, 2004), which can be used as startup capital in the future to support them in searching for dreams, among which He Youjun's example is the most prominent.
Liang Anqi's son He Youjun was born in January 1995. He has shown outstanding qualifications since childhood and is particularly talented in mathematics. He was admitted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the age of 18. After graduating from a bachelor's degree, he stayed at school to continue his studies, obtained a master's degree in finance, and then returned to Hong Kong.With the support of his mother's investment of 80 million yuan, He Youjun joined the mobile game company "Chuangmeng Tiandi". On December 6, 2018, the company was successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. On Stanley Ho's 97th birthday, Ho Youjun specifically used the company's prospectus as a gift to prove his skills to his father ("Dafenghao", December 6, 2018).
The other children born to Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi are still young, and their true performance and ability will naturally be proven in the future. What is certain is that since the initial division, everyone's rights and responsibilities have become clear after clarifying the asset allocation, and the motivation to show their strengths and prove their respective abilities has obviously increased. The children of each house have their own business, which greatly reduces the conflicts between them. It can be expected that the business of the He family will inevitably further diversify, and the business and assets of Chen Wanzhen and Liang Anqi will gradually be transferred to their children in the future to complete the role of "agent".
Analysis of the situation where Ho Chaoqiong, Ho Chaofeng and Ho Lawrence Ho each manage a company, which naturally reminds people of the future property inheritance issues of Ho Chaoqiong and Ho Chaofeng. Since Ho Chaoqiong and Ho Chaofeng are both divorced, Ho Chaoqiong has no children. How will their property be passed on in the future? In fact, many of Ho Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-Hong-H Will it be passed on to the descendants of the He family? At present, Stanley Ho has no grandson. Ho Youguang has two daughters and He Youlong has one daughter. Will the family adopt the inheritance of men and women equally? Or will the property be donated to charity? These are all very interesting and important issues, worth further observation and in-depth discussion in the future.
Stanley Ho and his sister Ho Wanqi
On February 7, 2019, Stanley Ho was hospitalized for health problems and reported extensively (Sing Tao Daily, February 8, 2019), saying that he was admitted to the ICU, which attracted social attention. From this point of view, whether the market or society still has doubts. When Stanley Ho returns to old age for a hundred years and loses that stable force, will there be another problem of fighting within the family? It is worth noting that this struggle is not only related to Stanley Ho’s lineage, but the equity and financial dispute between Stanley Ho and his younger sister Ho Wanqi has not actually come to an end with the death of Ho Wanqi. This shows that in the face of huge benefits, family harmony and unity still make people feel that it is just a mirror, with many variables and risks. The questions and developments in this area are only left to time to give answers.
Summary and thinking of the experience of a hundred-year-old life
There is no doubt that being rich and long-lived, with a large group of wives, concubines and children, seems to be the life ideal pursued by countless men. Carefully savoring Stanley Ho’s 100-year-old life allows people to see that he turns adversity into fighting spirit while his family is in trouble, strives to make a strong effort, and turns the tide. Finally, he revitalizes the family with his own strength, writes a personal legend, and writes a rich and heavy side of the family in the history of Hong Kong and Macao society. But on the other hand, Stanley Ho's process of getting rich is actually extremely risky, and he even passed by death. His involvement in Macau's gambling industry has caused him to keep his life right and wrong, and even led to his friends and relatives turning against each other. Stanley Ho and his younger sister Ho Wanqi are strangers, and they are even alluded to as "devils", which is the most important and most popular example ("The Memoirs of Ten Girls: Confronting the Devils", 2007). If you look closely at Stanley Ho’s life experience and the development of the family business, it is not difficult to find the following ten experiences, lessons and characteristics worth paying attention to and thinking:
(I) Adversity inspires fighting spirit and writes personal legends. Born in a wealthy family, Stanley Ho, has been doing well and having a good time since his father "runs away" for more than ten years, so he only cares about playing and learning, and his grades at school are only at the downstream. If it weren't for the huge crisis in the family that his father's lineage had declined from a high position, causing his living conditions and level to plummet, and even be discredited in society, he might have just become a playboy and lived in a rich and rich life. If this is the case, he will definitely not have the courage or fighting spirit to take risks, let alone conquer the iron barren land, sit on the throne of the "king of gambling", and become a famous wealthy man in Hong Kong and Macao. This once again shows that a difficult truth throughout the ages is an important condition for tempering will and creating glory.
(II) There is modernity in ideological tradition. As a mixed-race man, he has both a very traditional side and a side that is easy to accept modern things. The so-called traditional side is that he emphasizes his Chinese identity very much, believing that he is a Chinese, not an "old Westerner" (foreigner). Stanley Ho pays special attention to values such as family, bloodline, and filial piety (He Wenxiang, 1992: 66). Of course, Stanley Ho also adopted the "Qing Dynasty Laws" as the standard and adopted the system of taking concubines, which resulted in the result of a large number of wives, concubines and children - even though his Yuanpi believed in Catholicism and opposed polygamy. We have to mention a feature that is often overlooked here. In fact, in Hong Kong, the Eurasian mixed-race group pays more attention to Chinese traditional culture than pure Chinese, and is particularly obsessed with folk customs. The so-called modern means that he is not resistant to modern things and is willing to use them. He will be the first to introduce gambling methods, machinery and equipment, new ships for shipping, etc. He is willing to adopt them to improve the company's efficiency and create profits.
(III) Don’t stick to faith, but only pay attention to effectiveness. Although Stanley Ho is obsessed with Chinese traditions, he does not insist on religious beliefs. In the 1990s, he told reporters that in terms of religion, he believed in Buddhism. He once said:
I believe in Buddhism and I am particularly convinced of cause and effect, which may be because my mother has a great influence on me. My mother worships God very devoutly, Wenwu Temple , the temple of Tianhou Temple was already familiar with me when I was young, and I went to eat vegetarian food on February 19th of Guanyin's birthday. (He Wenxiang, 1992)
But in 2004, at the funeral of Yuan Pei Li Wanhua, Stanley Ho made another statement when interviewed by a reporter. He told the reporter this:
I am an atheist myself, neither a Catholic nor a Buddhist, but because I was in a Catholic boarding school when I was in college and my mother was a Buddhist, I "know both." (Macau Daily, February 26, 2004)
This religious view is actually the same as many Chinese in Hong Kong, that is, believe that all religions guide people to goodness, and the most important thing is to shine the family, take good care of their families, and continue their bloodlines.
(IV) Pay attention to the quality and quantity of family human resources. As he said, when his family was backward, he was discredited because he was discredited, and he developed a fighting spirit of "not to lose" (not to lose), calling himself to make his mother stand out and let his mother live a good life. It is precisely because of his fighting spirit that his academic performance has made great progress and he has worked harder after entering society, so he can build an iron barren land in the future. Because of his personal experience, he obviously attaches great importance to human resources - not only quantity, but also quality - although there are many wives, concubines and children, he pays attention to their education. On the other hand, due to the large number of women in each house, internal competition arises. Although this competition will bring contradictions, it can also inspire wives, concubines and children to have their own strength. It is precisely under the comparison and competition between each house, the quantity and quality of human resources have been improved, which not only strengthens the family's development momentum, but also helps diversify investment and business, diversify risks, and helps the family's long-term development.
(V) Pay attention to personal connections and social networks. The reason why Stanley Ho was able to lead his father's lineage to revive is that the help of his grandfather Ho Dong and his family cannot be underestimated. Because of his family reputation and the Internet, Stanley Ho, who was still a yellow-haired boy at that time, was able to cooperate with prominent figures in Macau at that time, such as Luo Bao, Liang Jihao and Ho Shanheng. In the future, he could cooperate with Ye Han, Ye Deli and Ho Ying-tung when competing for gambling cards. These helps during the period of entrepreneurship and growth are particularly important for success. When Stanley Ho's children came out to start a business or took over the family business, Stanley Ho naturally also used his connections and social networks to support their development.
(VI) The process of inheriting and taking over time has been long and full of variables. In the 1970s, Stanley Ho's son He Youguang took over and planned to retire at around 55 years old. As a result, his son died unexpectedly at the age of 33, and his succession plan changed. He had to wait until he was 97 to completely retire. I believe that the inheritance thinking is very profound. He once said that the inheritance is not necessarily a father passing on his son, but it is still only passed on to his own bloodline and children, and he cannot escape the "bloodline first".Despite this, he eventually broke through the tradition of passing on men but not women, and two women (Ho Chaoqiong and He Chaofeng) served as the leader of the family's flagship business, while his son He Youlong led companies with smaller assets and businesses. On the other hand, because he was too old and the children born to the third and fourth concubines were still young, he adopted the "custody" model of property distribution, and the concubines were "agents". When the children grew up and even wanted to develop their careers, they were transferred to their children in different ways. This very special inheritance and succession method is really worth in-depth research in the future.
(7) Different models of patriarchal inheritance and maternal inheritance. In terms of family inheritance, family property is mainly paternal inheritance, that is, father passes to sons, and very few daughters, but no offspring, so they pass to daughters. Secondly, it is necessary that the Yuan family will have a large share, while the concubine will have a small share. But in the He family's inheritance, Stanley Ho not only did not give a house to Yuan for more, but also had fewer one; at the same time, he relied on his daughter more and made relatively equal distribution between his daughter and son. Both arrangements are subversive and worth thinking about. The Yuan-Party family is less than the concubines, which is naturally related to the death of He Youguang and his wife and Lai Wanhua when they were separated. In addition, He Youguang's orphan is a daughter, and there is no mother or grandmother to stand out, so in fact, he is in multiple weaknesses, so the long house is treated coldly. This may become the crux of future property struggles. The reuse and equal distribution of daughters raise another question: how can they make inheritance arrangements for their future property? Especially, Ho Chaoqiong, Ho Chaoxiong and Ho Chao-jiu have no bloodline. How they inherit in the future will attract widespread public attention and are worthy of in-depth research.
(8) The family population has rapidly shrank. Whether it is Stanley Ho's generation, or his father and ancestors, they are all prosperous. The mother and grandmother of He Dong, the grandmother, gave birth to many children, and He Dong's wives and concubines actually gave birth to more than three children. However, in the generation of He Dong's children, the number of children they gave birth to was greatly reduced, often only one or two, and even if there were children who were not married, they chose to be single. Such a development situation will inevitably greatly weaken the family's human resources and affect the development of family businesses in the next generation.
(9) The marriage relationship of "strong combination" is being tested by the children's generation. The union of Stanley Ho himself and Yuanmao is an example of a "strong union". His parents, uncles and sisters-in-law, and even his ancestors all had many such marriage alliances (Hall, 1992; Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2004), which also brought extremely close social relations to Stanley Ho and his family. Stanley Ho clearly saw the importance of this relationship, so he arranged for his daughters to marry into different big families, such as Chaoying and Xiao Baicheng, Ho Chaoqiong and Xu Jinheng, and Ho Chaofeng and Ho Zhijian. However, the three "strong union" marriages all ended in divorce, which is a pity. Of course, the "strong combination" between his son He Youlong and Luo Xiuyin is very loving, which is a turning around the situation. As for the problem that Stanley Ho's children failed to achieve their marriage, it is also worth discussing in the future.
(10) The development power and stabilization effect of health and longevity. Stanley Ho not only made his debut early, but also made his fortune early. He passed by the god of death many times on the road to hard work, and he could get rid of danger and live a long life. Due to his longevity, the companies under his leadership can develop smoothly and efficiently. Most of the shareholders who work with him give up their control because their lifespan is not as long as he does. The best explanation is that Ye Han gave way to "Australia Entertainment" and Ho Ying-tung gave way to Xinde Enterprise. On the other hand, because of longevity, the inheritance crisis and property struggle crisis within the family were all successfully resolved because he was still alive. It can be imagined that if it were not for longevity, but like many parents who died early, the family internal strife would inevitably be intensified, and in the end it would inevitably lead to the confrontation and the family business would be divided. Although the family will be divided by the time he dies, because better arrangements have been made, I believe the impact will be greatly reduced.
Stanley Ho is a unique figure full of legends. His experiences, encounters, responses and achievements not only reflect the trajectory of the times, but also reflect the unique position of Hong Kong and Macao in modern Chinese history. It also shows the continuous adjustment and evolution of Chinese culture and family system in the entire development process. It is true that a big family and a big business will inevitably accumulate a lot of favorable conditions, such as huge assets, connections, in-laws and networks, etc., but if you do not have the fighting spirit to achieve your career and the responsibility of taking on the good and bad family, you may not be able to use those advantages to create glory. The story of Stanley Ho obviously illustrates this point. Whether his next generation can go to the level of progress or strive to maintain his foundation should also be proved.
(The author Zheng Hongtai is the joint convener of the Global China Research Project of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the co-director of the Center for Social and Political Development Research. He is also the editor-in-chief of the series "Family Business Development Research" and "Hong Kong Family Family", a member of the editorial board of the international academic journal National Identities and East Asia, and the editor-in-chief of the Family Business Governance Series" and "Family Wealth Inheritance Series". Gao Hao is the director of the Global Family Business Research Center and the director of the Office of Strategic Cooperation and Development at the Wudaokou School of Finance of Tsinghua University. He is also a member of the think tank committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, a director and researcher of the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association, and an editor-in-chief of the Family Business Governance Series" and "Family Wealth Inheritance Series".)
(II) There is modernity in ideological tradition. As a mixed-race man, he has both a very traditional side and a side that is easy to accept modern things. The so-called traditional side is that he emphasizes his Chinese identity very much, believing that he is a Chinese, not an "old Westerner" (foreigner). Stanley Ho pays special attention to values such as family, bloodline, and filial piety (He Wenxiang, 1992: 66). Of course, Stanley Ho also adopted the "Qing Dynasty Laws" as the standard and adopted the system of taking concubines, which resulted in the result of a large number of wives, concubines and children - even though his Yuanpi believed in Catholicism and opposed polygamy. We have to mention a feature that is often overlooked here. In fact, in Hong Kong, the Eurasian mixed-race group pays more attention to Chinese traditional culture than pure Chinese, and is particularly obsessed with folk customs. The so-called modern means that he is not resistant to modern things and is willing to use them. He will be the first to introduce gambling methods, machinery and equipment, new ships for shipping, etc. He is willing to adopt them to improve the company's efficiency and create profits.
(III) Don’t stick to faith, but only pay attention to effectiveness. Although Stanley Ho is obsessed with Chinese traditions, he does not insist on religious beliefs. In the 1990s, he told reporters that in terms of religion, he believed in Buddhism. He once said:
I believe in Buddhism and I am particularly convinced of cause and effect, which may be because my mother has a great influence on me. My mother worships God very devoutly, Wenwu Temple , the temple of Tianhou Temple was already familiar with me when I was young, and I went to eat vegetarian food on February 19th of Guanyin's birthday. (He Wenxiang, 1992)
But in 2004, at the funeral of Yuan Pei Li Wanhua, Stanley Ho made another statement when interviewed by a reporter. He told the reporter this:
I am an atheist myself, neither a Catholic nor a Buddhist, but because I was in a Catholic boarding school when I was in college and my mother was a Buddhist, I "know both." (Macau Daily, February 26, 2004)
This religious view is actually the same as many Chinese in Hong Kong, that is, believe that all religions guide people to goodness, and the most important thing is to shine the family, take good care of their families, and continue their bloodlines.
(IV) Pay attention to the quality and quantity of family human resources. As he said, when his family was backward, he was discredited because he was discredited, and he developed a fighting spirit of "not to lose" (not to lose), calling himself to make his mother stand out and let his mother live a good life. It is precisely because of his fighting spirit that his academic performance has made great progress and he has worked harder after entering society, so he can build an iron barren land in the future. Because of his personal experience, he obviously attaches great importance to human resources - not only quantity, but also quality - although there are many wives, concubines and children, he pays attention to their education. On the other hand, due to the large number of women in each house, internal competition arises. Although this competition will bring contradictions, it can also inspire wives, concubines and children to have their own strength. It is precisely under the comparison and competition between each house, the quantity and quality of human resources have been improved, which not only strengthens the family's development momentum, but also helps diversify investment and business, diversify risks, and helps the family's long-term development.
(V) Pay attention to personal connections and social networks. The reason why Stanley Ho was able to lead his father's lineage to revive is that the help of his grandfather Ho Dong and his family cannot be underestimated. Because of his family reputation and the Internet, Stanley Ho, who was still a yellow-haired boy at that time, was able to cooperate with prominent figures in Macau at that time, such as Luo Bao, Liang Jihao and Ho Shanheng. In the future, he could cooperate with Ye Han, Ye Deli and Ho Ying-tung when competing for gambling cards. These helps during the period of entrepreneurship and growth are particularly important for success. When Stanley Ho's children came out to start a business or took over the family business, Stanley Ho naturally also used his connections and social networks to support their development.
(VI) The process of inheriting and taking over time has been long and full of variables. In the 1970s, Stanley Ho's son He Youguang took over and planned to retire at around 55 years old. As a result, his son died unexpectedly at the age of 33, and his succession plan changed. He had to wait until he was 97 to completely retire. I believe that the inheritance thinking is very profound. He once said that the inheritance is not necessarily a father passing on his son, but it is still only passed on to his own bloodline and children, and he cannot escape the "bloodline first".Despite this, he eventually broke through the tradition of passing on men but not women, and two women (Ho Chaoqiong and He Chaofeng) served as the leader of the family's flagship business, while his son He Youlong led companies with smaller assets and businesses. On the other hand, because he was too old and the children born to the third and fourth concubines were still young, he adopted the "custody" model of property distribution, and the concubines were "agents". When the children grew up and even wanted to develop their careers, they were transferred to their children in different ways. This very special inheritance and succession method is really worth in-depth research in the future.
(7) Different models of patriarchal inheritance and maternal inheritance. In terms of family inheritance, family property is mainly paternal inheritance, that is, father passes to sons, and very few daughters, but no offspring, so they pass to daughters. Secondly, it is necessary that the Yuan family will have a large share, while the concubine will have a small share. But in the He family's inheritance, Stanley Ho not only did not give a house to Yuan for more, but also had fewer one; at the same time, he relied on his daughter more and made relatively equal distribution between his daughter and son. Both arrangements are subversive and worth thinking about. The Yuan-Party family is less than the concubines, which is naturally related to the death of He Youguang and his wife and Lai Wanhua when they were separated. In addition, He Youguang's orphan is a daughter, and there is no mother or grandmother to stand out, so in fact, he is in multiple weaknesses, so the long house is treated coldly. This may become the crux of future property struggles. The reuse and equal distribution of daughters raise another question: how can they make inheritance arrangements for their future property? Especially, Ho Chaoqiong, Ho Chaoxiong and Ho Chao-jiu have no bloodline. How they inherit in the future will attract widespread public attention and are worthy of in-depth research.
(8) The family population has rapidly shrank. Whether it is Stanley Ho's generation, or his father and ancestors, they are all prosperous. The mother and grandmother of He Dong, the grandmother, gave birth to many children, and He Dong's wives and concubines actually gave birth to more than three children. However, in the generation of He Dong's children, the number of children they gave birth to was greatly reduced, often only one or two, and even if there were children who were not married, they chose to be single. Such a development situation will inevitably greatly weaken the family's human resources and affect the development of family businesses in the next generation.
(9) The marriage relationship of "strong combination" is being tested by the children's generation. The union of Stanley Ho himself and Yuanmao is an example of a "strong union". His parents, uncles and sisters-in-law, and even his ancestors all had many such marriage alliances (Hall, 1992; Zheng Hongtai, Huang Shaolun, 2004), which also brought extremely close social relations to Stanley Ho and his family. Stanley Ho clearly saw the importance of this relationship, so he arranged for his daughters to marry into different big families, such as Chaoying and Xiao Baicheng, Ho Chaoqiong and Xu Jinheng, and Ho Chaofeng and Ho Zhijian. However, the three "strong union" marriages all ended in divorce, which is a pity. Of course, the "strong combination" between his son He Youlong and Luo Xiuyin is very loving, which is a turning around the situation. As for the problem that Stanley Ho's children failed to achieve their marriage, it is also worth discussing in the future.
(10) The development power and stabilization effect of health and longevity. Stanley Ho not only made his debut early, but also made his fortune early. He passed by the god of death many times on the road to hard work, and he could get rid of danger and live a long life. Due to his longevity, the companies under his leadership can develop smoothly and efficiently. Most of the shareholders who work with him give up their control because their lifespan is not as long as he does. The best explanation is that Ye Han gave way to "Australia Entertainment" and Ho Ying-tung gave way to Xinde Enterprise. On the other hand, because of longevity, the inheritance crisis and property struggle crisis within the family were all successfully resolved because he was still alive. It can be imagined that if it were not for longevity, but like many parents who died early, the family internal strife would inevitably be intensified, and in the end it would inevitably lead to the confrontation and the family business would be divided. Although the family will be divided by the time he dies, because better arrangements have been made, I believe the impact will be greatly reduced.
Stanley Ho is a unique figure full of legends. His experiences, encounters, responses and achievements not only reflect the trajectory of the times, but also reflect the unique position of Hong Kong and Macao in modern Chinese history. It also shows the continuous adjustment and evolution of Chinese culture and family system in the entire development process. It is true that a big family and a big business will inevitably accumulate a lot of favorable conditions, such as huge assets, connections, in-laws and networks, etc., but if you do not have the fighting spirit to achieve your career and the responsibility of taking on the good and bad family, you may not be able to use those advantages to create glory. The story of Stanley Ho obviously illustrates this point. Whether his next generation can go to the level of progress or strive to maintain his foundation should also be proved.
(The author Zheng Hongtai is the joint convener of the Global China Research Project of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the co-director of the Center for Social and Political Development Research. He is also the editor-in-chief of the series "Family Business Development Research" and "Hong Kong Family Family", a member of the editorial board of the international academic journal National Identities and East Asia, and the editor-in-chief of the Family Business Governance Series" and "Family Wealth Inheritance Series". Gao Hao is the director of the Global Family Business Research Center and the director of the Office of Strategic Cooperation and Development at the Wudaokou School of Finance of Tsinghua University. He is also a member of the think tank committee of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, a director and researcher of the China Enterprise Reform and Development Research Association, and an editor-in-chief of the Family Business Governance Series" and "Family Wealth Inheritance Series".)
